West Coast Location Celebrates 1 Year 

Our West Coast team, based out of Bend, Oregon celebrates a successful first year of operation, providing top-notch adolescent and young adult programming. Our new "home base" located in beautiful Bend, OR, creates a safe and welcoming atmosphere for visitors and families. The home also creates a safe space for the L.O.F.T., Life Opportunities for Transformation, a unique transitional component for our young adult programming. The L.O.F.T. supports clients with life coaching after completion of Wilderness Immersion.

The West Coast operates under a special use permit with the Willamette and Deschutes National Forest, and includes several new field operation locations beginning May 1st. The new locations offer varied terrain, eco-variety, and is closer to base operations. The proximity to Bend allows quicker accessibility supporting clients and staff in our customized approach. Our field staff are gearing up for a busy season, and currently mapping, scouting, and planning for the best use of our permitted areas. We anticipate expanded adventure education opportunities taking full advantage of all that Central Oregon has to offer.

New Vision Wilderness Therapy Adventure Education

North Woods Adventure Education Exciting times are upon us at New Vision Wilderness with the arrival of spring! Spring is a great time for Adventure Education in our North Woods location, and brings with it many new and exciting challenges and adventure along the rivers, lakes and rock climbing routes throughout the state. The majority of Adventure Education trips occur within a short distance of our field area in the Chequamegon National Forest. These trips include day long and multi-day canoe expeditions, rock climbing, and caving.  Canoeing expeditions take place primarily on the Willow flowage, Jump River, and Flambeau Rivers. These expeditions focus primarily on communication and team work, a crucial aspect of canoeing and something which many of our clients struggle with. Canoeing provides opportunities for clients to work through the challenges of communicating with their peers by navigating the winding river. Team work and leadership are two more skills which are further developed through canoeing. Clients must assess what they need to do to get where they need to go, come up with a plan of action, and utilize each others strengths and weaknesses to reach their destination. Additionally clients are taught how to perform canoe rescues, basic and advanced paddling techniques, and for some clients, even basic whitewater canoeing techniques and skills. Rock climbing is a very exciting and empowering addition to the Adventure Education programming at New Vision Wilderness. Rock climbing trips occur across the state at locations such as Devils Lake in southern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and several different locations. Rock Climbing is an extremely challenging activity which focuses primarily on trust and empowerment. Clients must learn to first trust the person who is belaying them, trust their gear, and most importantly, themselves. Trusting the person belaying them can be related directly to the struggles they may have encountered trusting others in their lives. Trusting themselves and believing that they can scale this towering cliff and overcome their fears is very beneficial to them not only on a cognitive level but also as a part of their therapeutic journey at New Vision Wilderness.

New Vision Wilderness  and Steve Sawyer, LCSW CSAC Invite you to the presentation of: Understanding Cutting Edge Brain-based Therapies and Advanced Trauma Work By Sandy Newes of Clear View Psychological Services  & Steve Sawyer of New Vision Wilderness Today's understanding of the brain has advanced, so has our understanding of the effects of chronic stress/trauma. This has led to the development of cutting edge brain-based psychotherapies. Expanding on previous workshops, we will examine the neuroscience of trauma and effective trauma treatment tools. Basics of traumatic material storage in the brain, dissociation, the adverse effects on neural integration and associated difficulties with self-regulation will also be discussed. An introduction to several new brain-based psychotherapies will be offered including EMDR, Brainspotting, and HeartMath. We will also explore neurofeedback and biofeedback, presenting research and case studies throughout. Now Including:  Trauma Sensitive Yoga Research and the Brain  Research by Bessel Van Der Kolk When FRIDAY February, 7th 2014 Session E-1 1:45 PM -3:15 PM Where The Annual NATSAP Conference in Henderson, NV Green Valley Ranchin E1 - Del Mar II

To learn a little more about Steve Sawyer and New Vision Wilderness watch the video here. New Vision Wilderness Therapy - Steve Sawyer: A Visit To The Field www.newvisionwilderness.com

Steve Sawyer Clinical Director and Co-Founder Visits The Field

Why Wilderness Therapy?

Steve Sawyer Explains his take on why wilderness therapy works and why he started New Vision Wilderness Therapy.

To learn more about Steve Sawyer or Our Clinical Resources to Help Your Teen click here.

New Vision Wilderness' strengths reside in the intensity of clinical interventions, its relational therapy and true Trauma Informed Care (TIC) model. New Vision Wilderness tailors the entire intervention process by the understanding that the field environment is a stressed environment. Focusing on advanced neural science allows for an effective and safe impact of teens. The safest measure for the human brain is strong attuned relationships. The relational model allows interventions to work their way up the brain stem to a state of overall healing.


Most residential treatments and wilderness programs offer 1 to 2 individual client sessions per week, at New Vision Wilderness we offer 3 individual sessions per week as well as multiple group therapy sessions each week. In addition to the individual and group therapy session our clinicians are trained in modern, cutting edge, and evidence based interventions.

New Vision Wilderness Offers interventions and programs including:

-Art Therapy
-Gardening
-Trauma Informed Yoga
-Body/Somatic Awareness
-And the Mastery System


New Vision Wilderness embraces that each client has a path, and the road to getting there can not be reached by a cookie cutter approach. NVW’s Mastery System was founded on helping individuals become a master of whatever they choose, and our therapeutic job is to assist in getting the blocks out of the way whether they are emotional, or historical. We foster independence through empowerment, knowledge and personal growth.


Credentials of our clinical staff are frequently updated here.


For more information on our therapeutic model or on New Vision Wilderness visit:

www.newvisionwilderness.com or email info@newvisionwilderness.com or call Admissions: 855.689.8326