Snapshot of my life: I've moved to St. George.  It is in the very bottom western corner of Utah, 45 minutes away from Zion. I live in a six-bedroom house to be filled with seven roommates- more about the house in a future blog, it deserves its own space. Roommates are all staff from Second Nature.  I've 

just completed my third week as an intern.

Second Nature is a wilderness therapy organization.  We work with adolescents and adults, males and females.  It is for people who have drug addictions, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, manipulative behaviors, any/all/some and more......

2nd Nature has a unique lingo.  Words like wiggie, hoho, zebra, sumps, csb, busting, Milan, GnO, P on B's, bear bags, ground scores; all part of a jargon both staff and clients use in the field.

I'll start by explaining Milan: A type of family therapy where a client meets with a therapist while the family is sitting on the opposite side of a two way mirror. The family watches and listens to the session.  The therapist then switches sides and the client watches while the family goes through session, the client hears everything and is unable to interject.

This Milan Model of therapy is used in the field weekly in order to help transition to new staff.  It looks like clients, incoming staff, outgoing staff, visiting parents, and therapist sitting in a circle.  The staff that is outgoing gives a "Milan report" of each client.  It is a summary of how the client's week went, what they worked on, how they grew, how they stumbled, and suggestions on what to do for the next week.  These summaries are often given in themes.

I have sat in on six Milans, and am going to give my first Milan on myself to you:)

Theme 1: Whirlwind of a time

Alyssa packed up her storage unit in Chico and fit it into her Toyota Corolla. She trekked to Utah to be a field instructor at second nature.  What this looks like is working from tuesday to tuesday, one week on, one week off. In the field(consisting mostly of juniper trees, and sage brush) she backpacks with three other staff and 8-12 clients. She has spent the past weeks observing and learning how to respond to adolescent boys, adult males, crying girls and the heat of the desert.  She feels comfortable with her hard skills of living in the outdoors.  She is uncertain with the therapy and processing of it all.  She has learned how to make fire with sticks.  Suggestions for her are to continue to learn how to be a vocal and assertive leader.  She would benefit from giving consequences and setting boundaries.  She has been running in the morning and this is healthy for her heart and her body. 

Empty storage unit. Sorry Mr. Mouse, find a new home

Scamper full to the brim

Theme 2: Time for Tea 

Alyssa is trying to find a rhythm to this life. She is meeting new people and exploring the natural playground of the canyon lands on her off shifts. She is trying to find a balance between engaging with others and making time for tea- otherwise known as time for self.  She values her time at coffee shops, reading, and settling in. She has played a lot of ping pong, is still sleeping on the ground, is going to garden with her roommates tomorrow.  She spent the last week reminiscing and thinking of her Grandma Billie because it would have been her birthday.  While hiking she thought of family and friends(probably because the adolescent girls spent 70% of time talking about how they missed their family and friends from home) My suggestion for Alyssa is to enjoy people while they are around and save time to do what she loves by herself.

Hiking the Narrows

Kubb. Spectacular camping game.