Wendigo Lake Expeditions

Reflections on a piece of coral: 'The Stick Project'

2011-11-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Last week during theTherapeutic Adventure Professionals Group pre-conference, Tony Alvarezfacilitated a session where we explored “who are you?”. The closing element ofthe session was an invitation from Tony to participate in an activity he called‘The Stick Project’ that would extend this reflective activity into the weeksafter the conference. The steps to the activity were as follows:

1. Go for asolo walk and choose a ‘stick’ or any other natural object that we think mighthold within it features that we could use to explore who we are and spend timethinking about what the ‘stick’s’ purpose might be.

2. Spend timeweekly with the selected object. (E.g., take it for a walk, introduce it toothers, invite others to comment on it, etc.).

3. Maintain ajournal of your journey with the object. (Talk about how you decided totransform it, take photos of the process of transformation, write a story/poemabout the object, etc.).

I went for a walk onthe Florida beach where we were meeting, and found an object that a friendadvised me was a piece of coral. It immediately came to mind that coral mightbe a perfect metaphor for something that has long been a frequent object ofreflection for me - what I perceive to be my role as the CEO of Wendigo Lakeand its adventure therapy residential programs. And so I have chosen to takethis piece of coral as the object of my ongoing reflection on my vocation as asenior manager/leader. I envision writing a series of reflections over thecourse of the next year as I grapple with the question of ‘who am I’ in my roleas organizational leader/senior manager.

Here is my first takeon the leader as coral:

For me, coralrepresents the structure within which the life of the coral reef thrives. Thecoral provides a home and environment within which a thriving ecology develops.Similarly, as leader of the Wendigo Lake therapeutic community, I do not engagein clinical treatment of our students, teach school credits, cook food, formthe critical therapeutic relationships, or many of the other crucial elementsthat go into sustaining our students on their journey to wholeness and maturity.Hopefully, what I do serves to create some of the conditions within which thistherapeutic ecology is enabled to grow and thrive. Over the weeks and monthsahead, I hope to explore this role and organizational ecology in more depth. Iinvite you to share your reflections so that together we might deepen ourunderstanding and appreciation of how leaders and managers contribute tosustaining a vibrant therapeutic community.

Written by: Stephen Glass - CEO Wendigo Lake Expeditions

Wendigo Lake Welcomes Nicholas Magle-Haberek to Clinical Team

2011-05-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to announce that Nicholas Magle-Haberek has accepted our offer of a full-time permanent position as a therapist with Wendigo Lake. Nick is the first graduate of the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) dual Masters program (M.S.W. and M.S. in Outdoor Education) and will be coming to us with field and clinical experience gained from a number of work experiences, including Second Nature, Eagle Rock School in Estes Park, Odyssey Adolescent Treatment Center, Summit Achievement and Soltreks. Nick’s extensive and diverse experience as a front line therapeutic instructor and facilitator and his advanced clinical skills can only serve to further enrich our service. Nick has been involved in working with the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Research Cooperative (OBHRC) research database at UNH and will be a great asset to Wendigo Lake’s research program. Nick has presented at several Association for Experiential Education conferences. It is worth noting that Nick will be the second MSW that Wendigo Lake has hired upon graduation from UNH while two of our field Instructors have left us in order to participate in UNH’s dual Masters program. This web of interconnection between organizations committed to continuous improvement and service excellence is tangible evidence of the sentiment that through collaboration we are stronger and ‘a rising tide floats all boats’.

Affirmations of a Mother, Student and Past Instructor of Wendigo Lake

2011-05-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

Over the past five weeks, I received three separate unsolicited emails/notes. One is from the mother of a student who graduated from Wendigo Lake a while ago, another from a student who graduated from Wendigo Lake several years ago, and a third from a past employee of Wendigo Lake who hopes to return when personal circumstances permit. Their words epitomize the professional and therapeutic environment we seek to create every day for staff and students alike.

Their affirmations of Wendigo Lake are more eloquent than anything I could write, and so they will speak for themselves (I have inserted program clarifications in brackets.):

“This program (Wendigo Lake) saved his life. I cannot stress how great this program was for him – it gave him his life back – his self-esteem, belief in himself and his morals are strong once again. It put him back on the right path again – I am very grateful to the wonderful staff and to him for buying into it and working hard – Thank you.”
Tracey S. May 5th , 2011 written note

“I am extremely grateful for the time and dedication from the Osprey (REACH) team through my stay at Project DARE (Wendigo Lake). I have grown into a responsible, respectful and productive member of society. I owe a great thanks to dare (Wendigo Lake) for believing in me through even the toughest times.”
Chris S. – April 1st , 2011 note via website

“It is the constant change and surprise of Wendigo Lake that makes me love the job. As someone who has been shaped a great deal by my intern/work experiences at Wendigo Lake, I wish for nothing more than to be able to work there in a therapist position one day. As I tell everyone I meet this is my dream job, and then carry on about how wonderful the program is. People often tell me that I glow when speaking of your program….I believe that Wendigo Lake will remain my dream job….I know for certain that the professional benefits at Wendigo Lake far out weight most every job out there, and the reputation of Wendigo Lake has already helped me to get a number of jobs…”
Nicole L. – May 4th, 2011 email (edited for length and personal content)

These words from a mother, a student, and one of our past Instructors, capture the reasons why Wendigo Lake and its REACH and Project DARE programs are so well respected by those who have had the privilege to be part of this professional and therapeutic community over the past forty years. These words are also why we work so hard at continuous improvement, seeking to be just a little bit better with every passing year - because we owe our staff and students nothing less.

- written by Stephen Glass - CEO

The Clock and Wendigo Lake Spring Forward

2011-03-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

Today, we move our clocks ahead in one of the first rituals of spring. The streams and rivers are beginning to surge with the melting snow and tree buds are readying themselves to burst out in new growth. In similar fashion Wendigo Lake’s staff is springing into action for one of the most exciting years in our forty year history.

Our admissions team is busy preparing to respond to the annual surge of referrals to our REACH, Project DARE and ACHIEVE programs. We’re excited about our new approach to managing referrals which draws on our expanded leadership team to ensure we provide a timely response to every referral.

Speaking of expansion, we are particularly excited about adding eight new spaces to our residential adventure therapy REACH program on June 1st. This new capacity will improve our ability to welcome new students while allowing us to reduce the maximum size of each student group from ten down to nine as one more way to improve the quality of care.

Each group of REACH and Project DARE students will continue to be served by a direct service staff team that exceeds a 1:1 ratio to students – a program supervisor, masters level therapist, teacher, and at least eight Instructors. Supporting the direct service teams are more than twenty additional management and support staff whose task is to ensure our clients receive the consistent high quality service on which our forty year reputation is built.

Speaking of reputation, we are excited that 2011 marks the year we are up for our third term of accreditation by the Association for Experiential Education, which is complementary to the two annual licensing reviews conducted by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.

Our ACHIEVE program unit is looking forward to a busy year with bookings already in place for a number of new and returning groups from secondary schools, colleges, universities, and community agencies. We are also excited to be offering some therapeutic wilderness canoeing adventure experiences for both male and female groups of youth.

In August we will be hosting the return of scores of past staff and students as they join us in celebrating the 40th anniversary of our Project DARE program – making us one of the oldest continuously operating wilderness therapy programs in the world. In October, we will be co-hosting the 3rd Canadian Adventure Therapy Symposium.

So, we have an exciting year ahead of us, and I hope you’ll be part of it!

- written by Stephen Glass - CEO

Students benefit from a work placement in the kitchen at Wendigo Lake

2010-04-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

We like to give students who are interested in a work experience the opportunity to apply for a kitchen placement. This gives them a chance to work with my kitchen team consisting of Helga, a George Brown College Graduate from the Culinary Program who has worked with us at WLE for over six years and JoAnn who has been with us for over 20 years and who enjoys preparing homemade desserts with the boys. My career in food services began in the Netherlands with a Hotel school education and then a progression of small restaurants, cruise ships, large hotels and catering. I have been with Wendigo Lake for over eight years and particulary enjoy mentoring students in the profession of food services.

Students learn and practice a wide variety of transferable skills that will come in handy in their private and working life. Working towards a goal is one skill they learn because a student must do well in the regular program before applying for a work placement in the kitchen. The student applies with a resume and cover letter and attends an interview. When the student’s placement is approved, he will be involved in preparations and planning of daily food requirements for students and staff. The student learns to use math and reading skills to follow recipes. A kitchen placement also teaches organization and time management skills. The placement experience teaches the importance of meeting Health department standards while practicing the 'clean as you go' rule.

The student will learn to recognize tasks that he can perform and show initiative and demonstrate a willingness to do well. The student also learns that food can be a powerful tool to show people that you care and an opportunity to develop self-respect and confidence from doing a good job and serving others.

Jo Rogge
Supervisor, Food Services

Welcome To Our New Blog!

2010-01-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome to WLE’s blog. I hope you find the entries here meaningful for your life and work.

We have a tradition at Wendigo Lake called the ‘Paddle Party’. For decades now, every staff member who completes two years or more of service receives a canoe paddle personalized with art and a quotation, which epitomize that person’s contribution and character. After receiving the paddle, the recipient passes it to whomever wishes to speak first, and then the paddle is passed on, until every person among the peers assembled who wishes to speak has done so. Typically, people will tell a story or two about the recipient which reflect the kind of person he or she is. Often, those who have worked most closely, will share a tale that ‘roasts’ the recipient over some past event. There is lots of laughter and tender moments of affirmation.

The last weekend of November, we had such a paddle party. We stood in a circle around a fire, a bright moon arcing overhead, and celebrated three Instructors who had moved on to new opportunities over the previous months. For over three hours there was a continuous stream of stories, laughter and occasional tears of deep emotion. One of the Instructors shared how her mentor had advised her when she first arrived, “If there is one thing you can do for these boys, it is to love them.” The stories about that Instructor (and the others) told that night were testimony to the fact that they had indeed done just that in a most consistent and professional manner, constantly going above and beyond any reasonable workplace expectation for the sake of making the boys’ program experience as positive and therapeutic as possible. Several times that night, I heard colleagues say unashamedly “I love you” as they shared stories of how deeply influenced they had been by the guidance, support and close friendship shared between them. It was an honour to stand in that circle and share this sacred tradition that has been repeated scores of times over the history of Wendigo Lake Expeditions and Project D.A.R.E..

Relationship. This is the magic ingredient that explains much of the transformative power of Wendigo Lake Expeditions’ therapeutic residential programs. Many of the young men who come to our program have stopped believing in themselves, stopped respecting themselves, stopped loving themselves. We understand that our task is to believe in, respect, and love these young people until they rediscover their capacity for success, the goodness within them, and their infinite value.

As the famous Canadian author Jean Vanier wrote in his book of verse tears of silence:

“… if you believe in me then maybe I can do something worthwhile…maybe I can do something with my lifethus the light of hope begins to burn
your constant trust in me communicates warm sensations of confidence and faith
that look in your eyes, the touch of your hands brings me some marvelous message of hope.”

It’s often a rough ride to accompany a young person on this journey back from the abyss. It is not an easy path. It is not for the naïve or the fainthearted, nor the cynical.

It is a vocation which requires an exceptional work ethic, discipline, strength of character, and above all, the ability to see a young person both as he currently is, and his potential. I am humbled and privileged to work among such people.

Steve Glass CEO