Study Finds Teen Treatment Gains Last Years After Discharge
A longitudinal study of more than 1,000 adolescents in wilderness therapy and residential programs reports that progress made in treatment was largely kept after discharge, with follow-up of up to 6.5 years for some participants.
A longitudinal study published in 2026 reports that the progress adolescents make in wilderness therapy and residential treatment can hold long after they leave. The researchers tracked more than 1,000 young people who had attended wilderness therapy programs, residential treatment centers or therapeutic boarding schools. Participants were assessed when they were admitted and again at discharge, and for some of them follow-up information reached as far as 6.5 years. The paper, by Bettmann, Martinez Gutierrez, Conley and Mills, appeared in the journal Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, and its findings were shared by Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness, an outdoor therapeutic program for adolescents aged 12 to 18 and their families.
What the researchers found
Emotional and behavioral functioning improved substantially over the course of treatment. Many scores shifted from a level of distress regarded as clinically significant into the non-clinical range, and those gains were largely maintained once treatment ended. Family functioning stood out as a factor linked to good outcomes: adolescents whose families were functioning better at the start improved more in the health domains that were measured. Age, gender, adoption status, academic functioning and diagnosis were also associated with differences in how adolescents presented or how they fared. The authors list several limitations, among them a reliance on outcomes reported by parents and a sample taken from private-pay programs. The results therefore do not mean that every adolescent will do equally well, or that wilderness therapy by itself guarantees lasting improvement.
How the program reads the results
Blue Ridge says the study supports treating adolescent mental health as part of the wider family system. Dan McDougal, the program's owner and founder, said young people do not go through mental health difficulties in isolation and that lasting change means looking past the individual. Families who take an active part, he said, get a chance to recognize patterns, communicate better and find new ways to support each other as their child prepares for the next stage. At Blue Ridge, parents and caregivers stay in regular contact with their child's therapist and take part in family programming and workshops.
The program places adolescents in an outdoor, relationship-based setting. Group living, daily routines, experiential challenges and distance from familiar habits are used to practice communication, emotional regulation, problem-solving and resilience alongside formal clinical treatment. For families weighing a higher level of care, Blue Ridge suggests looking beyond short-term symptom relief and asking how a program involves the family, tailors treatment to the individual, measures progress and prepares a young person for life after discharge.