I'm in SW Utah touring treatment programs for "at-risk" youth. Utah has a ton of them because the laws here are different. In most other states, if I kid is 16, he or she has the right to check themselves out of the program. Here it might be 18. Within an hours drive there's at least 12 different programs.

Today I met with Danny Fountaine, the staff director for Red Cliffs Ascent, a wilderness program based out of Enterprise, and Sherman, son of the owner of Red Rock Canyon school, a residential treatment center in St. George. I interviewed them to understand what goes on in their operation, so I can figure out what opportunities exist for the FAR OUT School.

A kid in the Red Cliffs program cost parents $300 a day. These kids are out back packing-- there's no roof over their head or kitchen staff to pay for. It is the "tough love" approach. "We are not their friends," Danny assured me. It's a lot of outdoor survival skills-- like bow drill fires and tenting with just a tarp. They don't do much life planning or goal setting with the kids, and %60 go to another program after their 30 to 70 days in the wild with Red Cliffs is complete. Being out in the wild for 30 days, waking up at sunrise, doing journal writing, these are the best medicine, Danny said.

Most of the kids in these programs are from very wealthy families, and Sherman said many of the kids are there because their parents don't send enough time with them; and when they do spend time-- they often just go shopping.

Last Tuesday I did a slide show for the students and staff of the Sunhawk Academy, another residential treatment center in St. George, and I was set to do a Dragonfly Workshop there as well, but it was canceled because the staff didn't like that I said that "I choose to question authority" in my show. When I do the show, I'm just me-- I just give it to them straight. The Aspen corporation that owns Sunhawk owns a lot of treatment centers, and I don't know what the others are like, but that place was just a kiddy prison. The kids are only allowed outside 1 1/2 hours a day if they are good.

Kids are seeds. They need love, nutrition and sunshine. They need to be around positive people and a healthy environment. I didn't see that at the SunHawk. Kelly, the clinical director, she's cool. She's a climber, and we hit it off, but unfortunately she couldn't be there at the show. Bob, my only other connection at the school, he's a good man too, but he was not at the show either. What I saw was just a warehouse for kids.

It's bedtime for me now. I have a public slide show at Xetava Gardens tomorrow night, then headed down to do some work with youth near Tucson next week. The 23 to 25 is a Xara (Burning man type) bash near San Diego I'm gonna hit.
Check it: members.cox.net/xara-proje...duction.htm

Daniel, the guy I'm staying with here, who owns Xetava, is working on a project called Sacred Earth: www.xetava.com which will be interesting to watch unfold.

Do any of you have experience working with so called "at-risk" youth?