Josh's Story- "I Can Push Through Hard Things"

Wingate changed my life. i was an emotionally unstable teenager who really struggled with understanding myself and who i was. being in the wilderness with a small group of other teenagers who were going through similar struggles really helped me develop into the man i am today. the staff i had with me were always caring and supportive in my struggles. i can’t sit here and say it was easy and sunshine and rainbows , there was many times where i felt alone and i really struggled with being out away from home in the middle of the wild. the beauty of the struggle is that you have no option other than to focus on you. my therapist really helped me a lot with being able to call me out on weeks i was struggling and was really able to help me out. i never at one point felt as if staff or my therapist didn’t care or understand how to help me. the impact that staff and the environment that i was in motivated me to want to helpout with teenagers that struggle as i did. i have now been working at a treatment center in utah for over a year and i have been able to helpout so many other struggling teenagers through the experiences and emotions i went through being away from home as a teenager. i strongly believe that wilderness therapy helps out so many young struggling teenagers. it pushed me to believe in myself and taught me to be able to handle emotions and that i can push through hard things in life and that i am capable of so much more than i what i thought.