Episode 14: “Winter Safety: Best Practices Promote Opportunities for Empowerment and Resilience in Wilderness Therapy” with Program Director Danny Frazer

SKYlights

PREVIEW: Program Director Danny Frazer discusses Open Sky’s winter course area in Utah. He describes what the winter climate is like, explains how our base camp infrastructure enhances the student and family experience, and talks about the training our field staff receive prior to and throughout the winter season. Danny details the winter gear our students receive—including insulated boots, long underwear and down jackets—and how students’ diets are modified to account for colder weather. He also explains the physical, mental and psychological benefits inherent to a wilderness therapy experience during the winter. GUEST PROFILE: Director Danny Frazer, BBA Danny graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a BBA in Management and Human Resources. He took his first wilderness therapy job as an intern while in college in 1996, working for a small, family-run wilderness program. This experience inspired him to pursue work in the field of wilderness therapy after graduating. In 1998, he began working as field guide for Aspen Achievement Academy, eventually becoming Field Director. For six consecutive summers, while guiding at Aspen, he worked for the Montana program of the Voyageur Outward Bound School, where he served as an instructor, course director, trainer, and logistics manager. In that early 8-year period, he accumulated over 700 field days working directly with adolescents and young adults. Since Open Sky’s inception, Danny has served in multiple leadership roles, starting as the field and operations director and then as the first marketing and business development director. He eventually landed in admissions, where he served as the director. He brings a vast history of working in the field with special emphasis on risk management, safety, wilderness programming, and personnel development to Open Sky’s leadership team. In addition, he chairs the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council, the field’s leading organization representing over 20 wilderness programs throughout North America. TOPICS COVERED: Wilderness Therapy, coping skills, emotional and spiritual growth, self-confidence, emotional support, healing, young adults, recovery support, empowerment, destructive relationships, substance use, personal trauma, family dynamics, oppositional defiance, adoption/attachment issues, treatment resistance, navigating non-traditional and complex family systems, substance abuse, substance addiction, depression, anxiety, winter wilderness backpacking, winter backpacking safety

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