Parent Stress

Anasazi is a nationally known program for defiant teens that is licensed by the State of Arizona. The program operates in the wilderness areas of northern Arizona and hundreds of children now graduated from the program are the success stories freely talked about among families from around the country. (lots of letters from kids and parents available) These families are proud of and speak of both the child’s and parent’s new awareness of how to treat each other fairly and with respect and love. Please call me if you need more information: Mike Merchant (480) 892-7403.

ANASAZI Foundation (www.anasazi.org) is a non-profit organization serving families through a nationally accredited outdoor behavioral healthcare program. Established in 1988 by Larry D. Olsen and Ezekiel C. Sanchez, ANASAZI is perhaps best known for its non-punitive and effective treatment for substance abuse and emotional and/or behavioral concerns. Sanchez says many parents exhaust themselves emotionally and financially as they try to save a son or daughter in trouble.

Story by Ellen Bilbrey (602) 574-9769

TROUBLED CHILDREN? BATHE THEM IN LOVE

National Parents Day is July 27, 2003.

Deep in the stunning wilderness of Arizona, an extended family and group of health care professionals have guided hundreds of children suffering from maladies that range from substance abuse to defiancy through the murky waters of adolescence using the Anasazi program.

?It?s only a walking,? says Ezekiel Sanchez, one of the founders of Anasazi. ?My forefathers had difficult children but they didn?t have to deal with violent television, violent video games and the pressures of peers to drink or take drugs to escape the madness. Those children were sent out alone on a walking and they returned ready to face their adult life. Today children lose touch with their humanity and their personal moral character and become deeply depressed and frustrated. We give them the time to renew their inner spirit. We?ve all felt that need at times in our lives.?

Ezekiel and Pauline Sanchez know what it takes to build a successful family as they have seven loving children themselves.    
They were recently recognized as Parents of the Year by the American Family Coalition and The Washington Times Foundation, a network of racially and religiously diverse leaders.    
This Native American family, their children, and co-founder Larry Olson have been a team for thirteen years while building this safe, wilderness therapy program for children. They also have personally raised more than $2 million dollars to help some troubled children be admitted to Anasazi for at least 42 days in the desert.

Celebrities, politicians, and business leaders support the efforts of Anasazi to keep this licensed, non-profit, health care program afloat.    
The program thrives because of the close-knit team of professional health care counselors, teachers, and nurses who take their mission of saving children to heart. ?Unconditional love, cleansing their bodies through hiking and exercise, eating a balanced diet, and firm guidance sets the stage for a new beginning,? says Pauline. ?Families should offer these same opportunities every day to their children and the results will be the same. We seek out those counselors that have a capacity for unending compassion for these children and the gift of patience, that is why some of our 2500 children come back to us sometimes,? she said. ?They go off to college and later come back to Anasazi as teachers.?

?I felt all the trail walkers and shadows actually cared about me,? says Megan Pyle, a former student and now an Anasazi trailwalker. This relationship to the staff is the key to this wilderness program. ?These children change because they find humility again in a wilderness and we don?t judge them during their search? says Sanchez. ?We believe children can reconnect with themselves and their family at some level through time.?

?Putting troubled children in harsh, rigid and restrictive environments like boot camps only reinforces the defensive character that kids practice against their parents,? explains Mike Merchant, Anasazi?s director. Children suffering from serious depression, substance abuse or withdrawal need love and need to be re-humanized so they can function in a home again. They need this opportunity long before they become an adult when the evolution of their personality is crystallized forever,? says Merchant. ?Our clinicians have designed a program that teach children about forgiveness, consequences and restitution, but there is no punishment of any kind.

The dangerous time for parents is when they are desperately searching for a treatment facility or program. They may need to place their child in an intervention program immediately and quickly find that choosing the right program is complicated. Children must be evaluated and recommended to a program where both the child and parent feel they are safe, will see success, and costs are covered by some form of insurance. Some children may not respond to a wilderness experience, a confined hospital, a social service group, or a program with punishment-based consequences.

Parents must always be included and part of the solution by being involved in the counseling sessions, intervention training, participate in parenting classes and must take a solo ?two-day wilderness walking? with the children at the end of the program.
?Caring, compassion and focused attention heal children,? says Sanchez, ?Not people or complicated substance abuse programs. At Anasazi we are offering an opportunity for confused and frustrated parents and children to benefit from Arizona?s wilderness and we try to make every day an opportunity for that family to discover that they can all accept each other?s love again.?