Academy At Swift River

Pathways is the orientation portion of the program at the Academy at Swift River. It is designed specifically to ease the transition from a wilderness therapy program to the larger, more complicated environment of a therapeutic boarding school. Pathways is a time for students to get acquainted with each other, with the school community, and with the rhythm of daily life at ASR. We take this time to assess the needs and strengths of each student with the goal of being able to create an individualized plan at the working visit. The Pathways program takes place during the academic day (between the hours of 8am and 3pm). Students eat meals with the rest of the school, sleep in the dorms, and engage in therapeutic and athletic activities with the other students in the school. All students participate in this three to four week orientation before entering the classroom to begin academics.

We begin the program with the idea that all of our students come here with some skills and learning that they have derived from previous programs, typically a wilderness program. With this in mind, we spend time outdoors and involved in challenging group initiative situations. These are designed to highlight the strengths that students bring with them and give them an opportunity to discover ways to use those skills here in this new environment. We process outcomes and guide students to transfer the skills they arrive with into this new environment and also to extend their learning into examinations of new possibilities that help them find successful roles here at ASR.

By the end of Pathways, we expect students to have an informed idea of what the curriculum at ASR will ask of them, and to be motivated to engage in it. We also want students to have established a role within the school and made sufficient social connections for a strong support network.