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Dancing With The Stars
By Holly Hunter | March 11, 2009
I just finished watching the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. I love to watch the professionals dance across the open floor with grace and charm, but more than that I love to watch them draw the celebrities out of their comfort zone and teach them something new. To be able to watch a football star, a television actor or Olympic athlete evolve onto a dancer is exciting. In order to accomplish their goal the professional dancer utilizes the celebrity’s state of vulnerability to develop a bond of trust in order for each celebrity to become dependent on the professional dancer to teach them the fundamental skills of dancing. As a result the celebrities step out of their comfort zone, develop this new skill as they apply the fundamental steps into a dance.
It’s much the same when wilderness front-line staff works with at-risk adolescents. The staff at wilderness programs uses their skills to reach out and connect with the vulnerable teenager form a trust-bond. It is through this trust-bond that at-risk adolescents are able to develop fundamental skills that they, with the help of front-line staff transfer into everyday life skills. It is through these new life skills that these at-risk adolescents are able to find their self-esteem, self-reliance and self-management. These fundamentals are the building blocks which will carry them through life. I think it is fair to say that, in essence, when at-risk adolescents are in the wilderness the front-line staff teaches them to dance.
That is why the work we do at National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping is so important. NATWC is dedicated to the training and certification of wilderness front-line staff. That means that front-line staff has a golden opportunity to learn from international experts in their field. As a not-for-profit NATWC relies heavily on your donations, membership and attendance at our annual conferences to be able to have funding to provide this certification and training to those who work directly with at-risk adolescents. When you join NATWC you help teach at-risk adolescents to dance the dance of life.
For more information on how to join NATWC contact Rick McClintock, Executive Director, 724-329-1098 or contact Holly Hunter, Board Member and Owner, SafePassage Adolescent Services, 800.811.7911.
Topics: Camps, Certification, Conference | Comments Off
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