Aspen Achievement Academy is licensed treatment program that integrates an accredited academic component, a sophisticated therapeutic model, and an experiential education curriculum in a healing wilderness environment. Aspen Academy recently participated in a landmark study of wilderness therapy that showed a dramatic improvement in teen behavior after participation in this type of program.

The Academy creates a modern “rite of passage” designed to assist adolescents in making the transition to responsible young adulthood. It guides each participant through a series of powerful metaphors that symbolize stages of growth, provide deeper insight towards developing self-reliance and generate a sense responsibility for self and community. Aspen’s clinical focus is on insight-oriented therapy, rather than behavior modification. The model helps our students gain awareness of their emotional and behavior habits. This unique, nurturing approach allows our students to address individual issues, become engaged in their personal success, and begin the process of bringing families back together.

Aspen Academy has earned the distinguished JCAHO Gold Seal of Approval and has received many accolades in the media. The Academy’s innovative and effective approach has been written about in the award-winning book “Shouting at the Sky.”

Aspen specializes in working with adolescents who exhibit any of the following behaviors.

Low self-esteem
Lack of motivation
Trouble with teachers
Poor grades
Depression
• Confrontational behavior
• Substance abuse
• Defiance toward authority
• Manipulative behavior
• Entitlement

Being a teenager is tougher in today's society than it has ever been. The clear-cut rites of a simpler society permitted children to move into adulthood in a natural and predictable way. Today's teenagers and their parents no longer have the benefit of such clear rites and predictable pathways. As a result, even talented young people and well-meaning parents often struggle with a balance between independence and reliance upon families. Teens today lack cultural rituals and pathways or "rites of passage" to maturity. Nowhere is the need for such "rites of passage" and help for teens and parents more apparent than in the case of the troubled teenager. The remarkable aspect about our innovative outdoor therapy program is its proven ability to allow nature and skilled staff to nurture self-reliance and self-respect, opening up a "rite of passage" to responsible young adulthood.