Wild at heart boot camp review12/4/2023 ![]() She refused to hike and sat on the ground. ![]() Rowan was not used to the physical exertion the conditions were immediately too much for her body. The first day, her group of 10 teenagers hiked while carrying a 40lb pack. The “staff” driving the van were just a few years older than she was and spent the bumpy ride making fun of her for vomiting the Wendy’s burger she had just eaten. Photograph: Courtesy of Rowan Bissetteįrom the moment she was picked up by the transporters and driven to the grounds to meet the rest of her group, she knew something wasn’t right. Rowan Bissette when she was at WinGate Wilderness. Six years on, Rowan is still reckoning with PTSD symptoms triggered by the experience. “I was not looking forward to that,” Rowan said. She had heard stories of participants being made to hike 10 miles, being starved, not showering for three months, getting infections. The program took place in WinGate, Utah, a tiny desert town where temperatures rise above 100F (38C) throughout the summer, and drop below 40F (4C) at night. But the night before she was supposed to be discharged, her parents told her they were sending her to a wilderness therapy program that promised to temper her suicidal and violent tendencies. ![]() She was sent to a hospital for three weeks, where she expected a return to Sunrise. She knew that if she behaved violently enough, she would get kicked out – and so that’s exactly what she did. There, she became violent both to herself and others, and was often put in restraints. Sitting on a plane bracketed by those two strange men as escorts, Rowan was flown to Sunrise Residential Treatment Center in Hurricane, Utah. Her parents were optimistic that this time, she would get the right treatment for her self-harm behaviors and suicide attempts. She had already been going to therapy twice a week for the past five years, but she was still struggling.
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