There is something enormously inspiring and transformative about bringing families into the wilderness together. While this has always been a human pastime, LifeWays’ Family Intensives are a unique alchemy of those classic bonding activities like firemaking, hiking, whittling, cooking, playing games, eating good food, setting up shelters, and sharing stories, but paired with contemporary social-emotional skill building and therapeutic activities that ensure a family’s internal world and dynamics are stronger after they leave the support of the wild.
LifeWays’ guides and therapists possess a dynamic constellation of family-centric, wilderness-based work experience. Having collectively supported over fifty families, we can say with rooted confidence that we can help change family’s lives for the better.
The LifeWays approach is both gentle and intense. Gentle in that our team cultivates a safe, skilled, and sacred container for families to share vulnerably and authentically with themselves and each other. It can be intense because, during these days, we witness and hold accountable your patterns and behaviors without judgment; we can offer insight into that long buried emotional “gunk” that’s been building up within individuals and family systems for years, that often feels safe enough to emerge in a supportive nature-based container. This is not an easy process but can be a clearing and opening practice for future familial health and harmony. With support from the LifeWays team, that hard material can be transmuted into a healing, cathartic, and ultimately nourishing experience that can clear the way for stronger familial foundations.
We won’t just help with the “gunk,” but will also teach key skills in the realms of healthy communication, conflict resolution, and mindfulness. This will help proactively grow your individual and familial resilience for when you walk away from the support of the wilderness and us.
Oh, and don’t forget, we will have some fun doing all this!
Features: What this is All About and What You’ll Walk Away With
- One pre and one post session with a LifeWays Guide or Therapist to prepare and integrate intentions, hopes, and fears.
- Guided daily mindfulness practices: yoga, meditation, and breath-based coping skills
- Facilitated family sessions to healthily address conflict and improve relationship strengths.
- One-on-one therapy support as needed.
- Quality time around a fire sharing meals, playing games, and sharing thoughtful conversations.
- All food is prepared and provided.
