Blog

By Mike Sullivan, Therapist This is fascinating – and you will likely be able to relate to this.  Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and colleagues in Italy pondered the mental state of artists while in the act of creating art.  Through phenomenological studies, Csíkszentmihályi, maintains that people can basically become absorbed into an activity and reach a particular …

Do you have a teen that has bouts of irritability, angry outbursts or occasional mood swings? If yes, then you have a very typical teen moving through the transition from childhood to adulthood with a healthy dose of emotional growing pains. These types of benign behaviors are not depression. Depression is a clinical diagnosis that …

Dr. Kimo Alameda, Director of the Hawaii Department of Health interviewed three key professionals from Pacific Quest wilderness therapy program in a weekly wellness talk show on the Big Island of Hawaii.  The television program “Rise Above” invites speakers to share information on issues of importance related to health and wellness.  This week’s show focused …

If you are at your wits end in regards to a troubled teen in your life do not throw up your hands in disgust and relinquish the parenting of your teen to the teen themselves. Some teenagers are experts in manipulation and might attempt to convince you they can handle their life alone. This is …

By Erin Levine, Clinical Admissions Director Every Friday evening when I am winding down my week, I take some time to view the slideshow of pictures that catalogs the activities the students participated in that week. I scroll through hundreds of pictures of busy and smiling faces in the different camps, at different phases of …

Pacific Quest Wilderness Therapy is pleased to announce the addition of two new clinicians to our ohana! Haley Robinson and Bridger Jensen joined Pacific Quest in May as Primary Clinicians. Haley Robinson joins Pacific Quest from Seattle, where she has worked for the past several years providing mental health and substance abuse counseling to young …

By Travis Slagle, Horticulture Therapy Director To love the land is the oldest and most essential way of life in Hawaii.  The people who care deeply for the land know what it means to be “pono” (to have integrity); they respect the ancestors by continuing their work, by planting the seeds, cultivating the “kalo” (taro), …

By Pacific Quest Decelerate headaches, improve your health, boost your energy—all this and more with a free, powerful tool you have access to each and every day: your breath. Breathing is referred to in clinical terms as an involuntary action of the human body. With all the busyness of the go-go-go modern society, it comes …

By Kelly Weld, Therapist Being a counselor at an intervention program is a challenging and rewarding task. When students arrive they are lost and desperate, their families are in crisis, and it is our job to help re-align the system in a relatively short period of time. The process feels first like a roller-coaster (with …

By Lindsey Baldwin, Therapist One of the best parts of my job as a therapist at Pacific Quest wilderness therapy program is being a part of the Rites of Passage story council on Thursday mornings. On these mornings, students return from a two-day ceremony and share their experience with a group of peers.  My role …