Back in 1971 a small article mentions some teenagers and young women meeting a tragic end when they participated in one of the first wilderness therapy programs, we have learned of. In fact a then 17 year old Lorene Larhette is the earliest recorded death on a victim list published by another NGO.

Unfortunately her death was not the last one in the Oregon wilderness. As late as in 2009 Sergey Blashchishen died at a wilderness program called Sagewalk. Sagewalk is known from an entertainment program called Brat Camp, which was broadcasted by ABC in 2005.


More than 30 years passed between these deaths and no lesson seems to have been learned by the individuals who run these programs. Can you as a parent entrust your child to this industry?

References:
Victims in 1970s (Secret Prisons for Teens)
Survival test ends in tragedy (Rome News Courier, September 8, 1971)
Lorene Larhette - 1971 (Today a child died blog)
Portland teen collapses and dies during wilderness camp hike (OregonLive,September 1, 2009)
Brat Camp (Internet Movice Database)

Who we are

We are a small non-governmental organization who are focusing on teenagers in residential treatment, which basically are prisoners of conscience because they are detained based on their beliefs rather than their actions.

Often they are confined based on an administrative desicion or by the orders of their parents without access to legal aid.

We have to accept that even here in 2010 the news of teenagers who die while they are placed in residential treatment continue to raise.

We support HR 911 which will introduce some minimum standards for teenagers who are placed at boarding schools, boot camps or wilderness programs.

Our approach is research on the internet and interviews with survivors of various programs.

You can reach us by email. Our email-address is (without spaces): h u g h e l b o r n @ y a h o o . c o m


Regards
Hugh Elborn
spokesperson