{"id":462,"date":"2006-04-15T12:28:10","date_gmt":"2006-04-15T20:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/?p=462"},"modified":"2010-03-22T13:09:52","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T21:09:52","slug":"working-with-troubled-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/2006\/04\/15\/working-with-troubled-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Working with troubled teens"},"content":{"rendered":"

International student Marlies Luepges wants a career in wilderness therapy, so she took it seriously when she had a chance to work in the field.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n \"Marlies\n
Marlies Lupges works with troubled teens through wilderness expeditions<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

When Marlies Luepges volunteered for a wilderness therapy position last summer, she bicycled nearly 100 miles from her home in Bend to the firm\u2019s Albany headquarters, including a trek over Santiam Pass.<\/p>\n

The OSU-Cascades Campus junior, an Outdoor Recreation Leadership and Tourism major, says she bicycled to give her time to reflect before and after the interview “as I knew I would enter a whirlwind of emotions when re-entering a field that has become my main focus over the past three years.”<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Expeditions accepted Luepges, an international student from Switzerland, for a 21-day wintertime expedition to Waldo Lake in the Cascades. She now has completed two treks with the firm, and is enjoying the experience she\u2019s gaining.<\/p>\n

The treks are intervention activities for 13- to 17-year-olds with a variety of problems, including mental health issues, depression, learning disabilities, emotional disorders and troubles with the law.<\/p>\n

At Waldo Lake, 3-4 guides and 6-8 teens find a remote location where they camp in individual tents for three weeks. Much of the time is spent hiking, backpacking and snowshoeing.<\/p>\n

At first the youngsters are distrustful and keep to themselves. “After a week out there, they start to feel supported and begin to express themselves,” Marlies says. “It becomes a nurturing environment. They know we\u2019re as wet and cold as they are.” Parents “often are blown away” when they see the change the trek has made, she says.<\/p>\n

Marlies wants to earn a master\u2019s degree, probably with an emphasis in counseling, so she can be a counselor as well as a guide, perhaps in her own firm eventually.<\/p>\n

And the bike ride over the Cascades? “It was much easier than I thought it would be.” Of course, she\u2019d already bicycled over passes in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

When it was time to return to Bend, she left early in the evening figuring she\u2019d head east until she found a campground. She didn\u2019t find any. “About 8:20, I started worrying. I figured I\u2019d have to stop and ask someone if I could camp on their land.”<\/p>\n

Then came a touch of serendipity. “I saw a Swiss flag on a house. It was a Swiss couple in their 70s,” she says. “They invited me to spend the night inside. It was a beautiful get-together for all. They\u2019re now my adopted grandparents here.”<\/p>\n

OSU-Cascades Campus home page<\/a><\/p>\n

Outdoor Recreation Leadership and Tourism program<\/a><\/p>\n

OSU International Programs Web site<\/a><\/p>\n

Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Expeditions Web site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International student Marlies Luepges wants a career in wilderness therapy, so she took it seriously when she had a chance to work in the field. When Marlies Luepges volunteered for a wilderness therapy position last summer, she bicycled nearly 100 miles from her home in Bend to the firm\u2019s Albany headquarters, including a trek over… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[687,948,949],"tags":[1733],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment-and-natural-resources","category-osu-people-and-programs","category-schools-and-education","tag-healthy-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":752,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}