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About Mount Carmel Youth Ranch
MTC Frontier Youth Ranch program for troubled teens is year-round, with a minimum stay of twenty-one days. The program is broad-based, flexible, and incorporates a rich variety of outdoor activities, not just hiking and camping. It is an integral part of a working ranch encompassing 40,000 acres; leaving behind his past for a time, he enters into a rich and deep cowboy Christian culture, which enrich him with many new experiences and the discovery of his true self.All aspects of Christian ranch life and mountain wilderness life are fully explored. Each outdoor activity from schooling to counseling are geared to teach experiential Christian lessons. Ranch activities involve range management, mapping noxious plant locations, building and repairing fences, locating and developing springs, cattle work, carpentry, and horsemanship, are some of the projects the troubled teens may encounter in our MTC Frontier Youth Ranch Program.
Other activities related to the upkeep of the ranch may include individual study courses (worth 1⁄2 credit each) in our school for troubled teens, where they learn all the basic skills needed in raising cattle, which include calving, doctoring, feeding, herding cattle on horse back, cattle drives, assisiting in irrigation and harvest of feed for the cattle. Learning to drive farm equipment is also part of the program. This work is real and the challenges it presents are real. In accomplishing it, at risk youth gain a sense of worth, confidence in God, and self-esteem.
Our Frontier Intervention Program is truly unique. Something inexplicable happens to these troubled teens. Not only are they affected by the beauty and serenity of the mountains, but their self-imposed barriers disappear and their hearts open. Healing is accelerated. Combining one's life with Christian prayer and living closely with nature in this frontier lifestyle the students' life is simplified, his senses slow down, and room for contemplation and reflection can be found. The at risk teens begin to understand how they are viewed by God in His creation. In the outdoors there are rewards inherant in experiencing the beauty of Gods creation, and the consequences are part of natural law. The young man learns quickly that the wilderness cannot be manipulated.
The MTC Frontier Program is a viable alternative to military schools , teen boot camps, and wilderness programs. Our Frontier Program is designed to bring to surface the fundamental character of a young man. His life is simplified, stripped down to bare essentials. No personal possessions are permitted, the work is challenging and living conditions simple. There is no publice television, no rock music, short hair cuts are required and no jewelry or body peircings are allowed. Clothes are western style as appropriate for the life. Like a teen boot camp, the day is well-ordered, begins very early, and is divided into school, recreation and work times. Morning and evening prayers are said. Young men are expected to be obedient, respectful, and attentive. Most activities are communal and are closely supervised.
Horses play an integral role in traditional ranch life. Mount Carmel has 30 head of horses for ranching purposes. We are very proud of our remuda (herd). Like the boys at MtC, these horses come from many backgrounds. They are primarily Quarter Horses, with some Arabian, Paint Horse and mustang breeding represented as well. It is amazing how quickly the boys will pick out a favorite horse among the herd. There is an old saying that goes, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.” This is proven true here at Mt. Carmel.
At risk teens can also use Reality Therapy to improve their success in the world. The process has been proven effective in education, parenting, and leadership. This type of behavioral modification lends itself to any situation where people need to learn how to satisfy their needs in responsible ways.
The Counseling Environment
Reality Therapy requires a supportive environment where individuals can begin to make changes in their lives. Following are guidelines for creating this environment.
1. Be friendly and listen to the person.
2. Focus on present events, only focus on past events if they relate easily to the present situation.
3. Discuss feelings and physiological responses as part of total behavior; always relate feelings and physiology to concurrent actions and thoughts over which the person has more direct control.
4. Accept no excuses for irresponsible behavior, particularly when a person fails to do what he or she has expressed an intention to do.
5. Avoid punishing, criticizing, or attempting to protect the person from the reasonable consequences of behavior.
Teaching the troubled youth responsibility is the most important concept in Reality Therapy. Glasser defines responsibility as "the ability to fulfill one’s needs and to do so in a way that does not deprive others of the ability to fulfill theirneeds." Any behavior which does not match this standard is regarded as irresponsible.
seed is produced in colaboration with
Mount Carmel Youth Ranch a youth ranch that utilizes a theraputic approach to helping at-risk teenage boys recover from substance abuse
defiantce to parental authority and other risk behaviors
