Through immersion in a healthy family atmosphere, our HomeBase program aims to arms its students with the tools to make healthy choices in their lives, long after they complete their stay.  Active participation in a supportive and healthy family environment and community gives students hands on experience dealing with the challenges of everyday life.  We cultivate a supportive family-like environment through creative and individualized opportunities for personal growth, authentic living and positive change. 

For over 20 years, Explorations has provided students with hand- on experience dealing with the challenges, temptations, joys and every day struggles of life. Students live in our homes for an extended period of time, practicing healthy family living in an environment where they continuously receive feedback and support.  The longevity of our family-centered HomeBase Residential Program speaks for itself.  Since 1990, we have assisted hundreds of families in “launching” their children toward a happy, healthy and productive future. 

When you walk into one of our homes, you will find yourself in the midst of a big eclectic family living, learning, and growing together.  Explorations is NOT a cookie-cutter program.  You won’t see dormitory rooms and uniforms; but instead a family home with nurturing, experienced parents and professionals—a truly supportive and unique environment designed to foster growth and development.  It is a safe place for students to stretch, grow and define a new self, away from the previous pressures causing them to struggle. 

The values of honesty, trust and respect are modeled, taught and practiced at Explorations.  Students learn to identify their role within their family system and practice new skills and patterns of communication.  With practice and support, students learn to appreciate family involvement, positive peer involvement, and the value of making healthy choices.

Students can expect a fair division of labor of household duties and chores, as they learn to be active, contributing family members.  Our students and adult mentors are expected to participate in the daily responsibilities required to run a family home, including meal preparation, hauling firewood, house cleaning and outdoor duties.  Students leave with an appreciation for the work required to be an active part of a family and a willingness to contribute.

Who We Serve
Students that are accepted into HomeBase have identified their core issues and are willing to work on discovering solutions to their previous obstacles, challenges and self-limiting beliefs.  Our typical student has successfully completed a therapeutic wilderness program or another primary treatment experience and has been recommended to continue working on his issues.  He has begun to accept responsibility for his role in the issues he is experiencing personally and within his family.  Even though he might not know how to make the necessary changes, there is a willingness to try. 

Therapy
Explorations HomeBase is a highly individualized, relationship-based program.  Each student is unique, and therefore the treatment approach for each student is also unique.  Our approach to therapy is one of full immersion.  We reach far beyond the standard model and cultivate a home community and culture in which everything is part of the therapeutic milieu. 

In addition to regular individual therapy, our students participate in two treatment groups per week, facilitated by therapists.  However, much of our therapy happens in the moment with our students.  Whether it is while washing dishes, cooking dinner, hauling firewood, riding the chair lift on a ski trip, mountain biking, or working in the garden, our therapists and residential staff are there working side by side with the students, developing authentic, meaningful relationships. Our students feel supported by staff who engage in the same activities as they are, and often form strong therapeutic connections with them more quickly than they would in a more traditional setting.

Our students who struggle with chemical dependency issues may attend regular 12-step addiction meetings in the community.  An addiction professional provides regular substance abuse groups in the home at Explorations, which includes relapse prevention and drug and alcohol education. 

Family therapy sessions occur via phone on a regular basis, and parents receive frequent updates from the child’s therapist and mentors in the home.  We encourage parents to work with an individual therapist, a family therapist, or a parent coach while their child is at Explorations to maximize the investment into the family. HomeBase parents continue to grow and heal with their children, despite the physical distance between them. 

Psychiatric evaluation and/or medication management services are also available as needed.  This service is not provided in the regular monthly tuition cost.

Family Involvement
Family involvement is an imperative ingredient in the success of our students.  Our students’ parents are involved in an ongoing and healthy reunification process through close communication, family therapy, and structured visits.  Adult mentors at HomeBase are nurturing, but firm, and guide students and their families through the difficulties of practicing healthy life choices, new communication skills, and rebuilding trust. 

Family visits are an integral part of our work, and we encourage regular parent visits.  When parents and other family members visit Explorations, we ask that they become directly involved in the milieu and immerse themselves in what is happening, whether it is cooking dinner, work detail, or a therapy session.  Parents begin to understand and appreciate what it is about the Explorations approach that is helping their child grow and change.  Parents watch staff mentors interact and assist their child through firm boundaries, nurturing support and effective modeling.  Parents see how their child responds to a different set of boundaries and structure and have the chance to practice with support from the HomeBase parent mentors.  Our staff is available to provide support, assistance and immediate feedback to the family as they rebuild positive relationships. 

Parent Coaching and Parenting Education Calls
Parents are invited to participate in regularly scheduled Parent Coaching and Parenting Education calls.  These calls are designed to help families thoroughly understand how they can best support their child’s process, continue their own personal growth and learn new skills that parallel the skills that their children are learning.  These conference calls give parents of HomeBase students the chance to share with others while learning new parenting tools. 

Individual Parent Coaching
Individual Parent Coaching is a service offered in addition to group coaching calls.  Parent coaching is available year round and facilitated by certified parent coaches, both experienced in the field of adolescent treatment as well as certified by nationally recognized coaching institutions.  Parents report that-different from family therapy-individual coaching has been instrumental in the process of planning for the transitions inevitable during a child’s stay and at the time of departure from HomeBase.  Because each family is unique and their circumstances are unlike anyone else’s, individual parent coaching helps to position the parent to make parenting decisions and develop and hold appropriate healthy boundaries with confidence in their strengths and abilities. 

Parent Weekends
Explorations hosts three Parent Weekends throughout the school year.  The first weekend is scheduled in the fall after students have transitioned into HomeBase and have established their rhythm both at home and in school.  Familiar patterns have had time to emerge and challenges have arisen, and this weekend provides an intentional opportunity to honestly look at gains made and to chart ongoing growth for each member of the family.  Parents are immersed in a weekend filled with educational seminars, experiential exercises and supervised therapeutic interface with their child.  Parents leave this weekend with a current ‘snapshot’ of their family and the gains made thus far.  This weekend provides a useful platform for families as they begin to use new skills to form a more honest and communicative relationship with their child.

In addition, every spring Explorations offers two very special weekends—one especially for Moms and one for Dads.  The Mom’s Weekend and Dad’s Weekend are designed to foster growth, change and connection for parents.  Moms and Dads work closely with Explorations staff to spend the weekend learning new ways to communicate and connect, begin planning for transition, learning from one another and enjoying time with their children.  Parents engage in vibrant, meaningful and FUN experiential activities with their children and other families.  Parents grow, learn and reconnect through the activities and relationships formed during the weekend.  Parents find these weekends to be illuminating, restorative and an invaluable part of the Explorations process. 

Education
The majority of our students attend our small local junior high or high school, where they are encouraged to participate in sports, clubs and extracurricular activities.  We maintain a close working relationship with our local school administrators and faculty and feel that this environment is an excellent, inclusive one in which students reintegrate into a school setting without all of the previous pressures and peer influences they were experiencing at home. 

For students with learning issues or who require credit recovery, the alternative learning center is an option that provides self-paced, closely monitored instruction.  Certified teachers and study skills professionals are available to students during the school day and after hours to provide individualized opportunities to move at a pace dictated by student needs.  Advanced placement courses and distance learning opportunities through a state accredited academy are available for those who would benefit from a more challenging curriculum.  Explorations also offers tutoring, study skills groups and opportunities for credit recovery. 

Service and Volunteerism
Explorations promotes service and “giving back” in order to move the focus outside one’s self. Students give of themselves and contribute their time through organized & individualized service to the local & extended community. Adults at HomeBase model appropriate social contribution and involvement in the community through their service as school board trustees, board members, and members or leaders of civic group, worship groups, sports teams, and various other service activities. 

Student service and volunteer work has included:

• Animal shelter
• Local Charity events
• Clothing drives and distribution
• Working with the elderly
• Kids’ mentors and coaches through Girl Scouts and community soccer and baseball leagues
• Elementary school and preschool aides
• Community organizations devoted to families and children affected by domestic violence and abuse
• Homeless shelter meal distribution
• Community food bank

Healthy Activities
At Explorations, one day each weekend is devoted to work, and the other to adventure recreation. Our students enjoy skiing and snowboarding during winter months and other outdoor recreational pursuits in spring and fall, including hiking, biking, various outdoor games, day trips to the hot springs or local areas of interest, and outings to local community events. 

Each student chooses one extracurricular activity in which to participate each semester. This may include sports, community theater or musical ensemble, clubs, or a long term volunteer commitment. Many students have the opportunity to participate in vocational programming. This allows students to interface with the community, engage in learning new skills that will result in increased self-esteem, self-worth and a sense of purpose.  Some students earn the privilege of seeking paid employment in the community. 

Life Skills Training
All participants at HomeBase are immersed in learning skills necessary to live their lives responsibly and with self-reliance.  Learning how to manage the challenges of how to cook, do laundry, care for a home, change the oil, or establish a savings account are but some of the skills students learn at HomeBase.

By rotating students through the various daily chores necessary to operate any household, combined with duties that require the supervision and instruction of peers, students learn skills necessary once they transition into young adulthood.  Participation in household meetings and peer mentoring provides students the opportunity to lead and teach others new to the process.  This “big brother” approach to mentoring lends itself to a high degree of accountability and takes the adults out of the role of managing decisions and tasks that the teen can do independently.  At HomeBase students are given the opportunity to learn everyday life skills and experience the consequences of choices with support.  Allowing the teen to make increasingly independent choices provides opportunity to practice what it feels like to take responsibility –for both successful and less successful choices.

During the winter and spring months, students often participate in vocational skills training by taking part in activities such as landscaping, welding, auto maintenance, building construction and maintenance, and wood working.  Throughout the year, students practice the task of completing duties to a high standard on a daily basis.  Being asked to contribute to the whole on a daily basis to a high standard of competence instills the foundational elements necessary for a strong work ethic. 

Some examples of Life Skills taught at HomeBase:

• Cooking
• Budgeting
• Effective Communication
• Household Chores
• Laundry
• Basic Auto Maintenance
• Time Management
• Prioritization of tasks
• Employment applications
• College applications
• College or school tours
• Interview skills
• Career Aptitude Instruction
• ACT/SAT applications
• Basic Household Maintenance
• Driver’s Education and Training
• Volunteer work and/or paid employment
• Personal finance: banking, ATMs, savings

Spirituality
Explorations encourages a non-denominational approach to spirituality, with an understanding that developing adolescents are seeking guidance and support.  Students practice respect and tolerance for each individual’s and each family’s belief system.  Individual customs are practiced respectfully within our home, and individuals are encouraged to engage in meaningful dialog with others about their spirituality. Christian worship services are available in the community.

We Value:

• Family Involvement
• Personal Responsibility
• Individualization
• Academic Success
• Physical, Mental and Spiritual Health
• Experiential Learning
• Service
• Family values of trust, honesty and respect
• Self-reliance
• Healthy interdependence

Going to the prom!

 This article was updated on: Aug 18, 2011