Why Experiential Therapy is Essential for Adolescent males and Peer Relationships

Getting out into the real world can be a scary and daunting experience for anyone, especially young boys that struggle with failure to launch syndrome and the inability to branch out on their own. Thinking about fending for yourself can feel overwhelming and cause them to crumble down and avoid doing what’s necessary to grow up. This often comes out through playing excessive video games, acting out, showcasing rebellious behavior, watching pornography, partying, partaking in drugs and alcohol, and avoiding the responsibilities of growing up.

Showing them that the real world is manageable and that they have the strength to be responsible adults can help them move past these hinderances, but how does one do that? Experiential therapy can help show them the way to live.

By having them experience being on their own and working with individuals outside of their known comfort zones, they’ll realize that operating and self-coping in the real world isn’t actually all that scary. The’ll learn how to be part of a team, manage their emotions for the betterment of a larger team and themselves, think rationally in the face of adversity, and be calm and collected in highly stressful and unpredictable situations. This can help young boys grow into functioning and reliable adults that are productive members of society. This ultimately leads them to live better lives and improve their wellbeing.

The Carpenter Shed excels at helping young men ages 16–20 find a sense of purpose, meaning, and connection. Our experiential treatment program gives participants the necessary support, mentorship, and guidance to help them find their place in the world. Let’s go through the benefits of experiential therapy, the way it affects individuals, and some of the activities young men can expect in our program.

What Are The Differences Between Experiential Therapy and Wilderness Therapy?

While wilderness therapy is a common practice, we believe experiential therapy is a more suitable and safe way to help adolescents.  

Experiential therapy is when patients undergo activities, reenacted or authentic situations, or art forms like crafts or acting in order to overcome emotional and psychological trauma from their past and move forward. Experiential therapy is a general term encompassing a few different types of therapeutic techniques. It can include music, animals, art, games, storytelling, and plenty of other treatments designed to help a patient cope with trauma.

However, wilderness therapy is where people often explore the outdoors and get in touch with nature. While this still allows people to venture outside their comfort zone, there have been many problems associated with these programs. They can sometimes put participants in danger from their lack of regulation and can cause long-term trauma, further making problems worse.

Our form of experiential therapy lets adolescents tap into who they are and what makes them excited to get better. By growing closer to others and discovering themselves, our young men are able to dig into what they’re passionate about and start anew on a better path.

The Key Benefits of Experiential Therapy or Therapeutic Recreation

There are many different benefits of experiential therapy or learning. Being on-site and doing something in the real world can be more effective than regular talk therapy (although there are still great benefits for that as well). Having the time to act and do something directly with their hands helps people not only see what a more meaningful life does, but it also helps them live it and understand the true benefits. Let’s dive into what experiential therapy does for people and the ways it heals trauma from the past.

Key Benefits of Experiential Therapies in Building Healthy Relationships

Healing Conflicts or Past Issues: This is one of the biggest benefits of actionable, experiential therapy. Being able to move past trauma from childhood is one of the best ways to advance into a more healthy, fulfilling adult. Too often scars from the past effect how people behave; unfortunately, it’s frequently with a negative, adverse result.

Discover New Ways to Move Past Conflicts: Being able to use rational problem-solving skills is a major part of being a high-functioning and healthy adult. This arises in many different situations in the working world, as well as in building healthy relationships with friends, family, and romantic partners. Problems will always arise, being able to deal with them in a healthy way is crucial to having a happier life.

Growing Closer And Learning To Identify Your Emotions: This is often hard for people to do, especially young boys. There’s an epidemic in society today that makes it look weak for men to talk about emotions or express them in any way. Doing this can lead to anger and repressed aggression that boils into negative feelings or outbursts, hurting their relationships with others, including loved ones, coworkers, and strangers. All of this can lead to a more difficult life and affect the mood of people. If a young man can identify their emotions outright, then they’ll be able to take a healthy approach in their relationships with others, which leads to our final benefit.

Practice Working with Others and Being Part of a Team: This is perhaps one of the greatest benefits of experiential therapy. Being able to work with others is absolutely crucial for living a healthy lifestyle and can only lead to advantages in the workplace and socially. Those that can work with other people are infinitely happier and feel more fulfilled in their relationships. By working on this in experiential therapy, young men can take on more in life and find ways to grow closer with those around them. Not only will it make life more enjoyable, but they’ll also discover that it makes them more successful and can help them advance.

Of course, there are many more benefits of experiential therapy, but these are the main ones that we’ve discovered through the program at The Carpenter Shed. Let’s go through the different activities we offer and how they help our young boys.

What It’s Like to Go Through Experiential Therapy at The Carpenter Shed

Here at The Carpenter Shed, we pride ourselves on giving young boys the tools they need to lead successful and healthy lives. Our experiential therapy program helps them find peace and freedom from the chaos and confusion that life brings with it. It’s inevitable that life can be tough, but being able to fight through that and connect with others is invaluable and the key to a happier existence. Everything we do is to help them lead better lives with a sense of purpose, meaning, and direction. Here are a few of the activities young men can expect when they come to our program and how they’re designed to help put them on the right path.

Experiential Therapy Activities at The Carpenter Shed

We use a wide range of fun activities to help our boys grow into young men:

Nature Therapy or Camping Trips: We take the boys on multiple camping trips throughout their time in the program. This allows them to work together setting up camp, working together to make a meal, and cleaning up after themselves. We also frequently take them fishing. This teaches them patience and that it leads to greater rewards in the end by putting in work. Adventure Therapy at The Carpenter Shed is highly regulated to ensure all participants are safe.

Games and Sports: Our young men participate in a wide range of sports and activities that help them learn hard work and teamwork, pulling together and placing emphasis on getting things done in teams. From basketball, cornhole, using the skateboard ramp, changing a tire, working construction equipment, listening to music together, and hiking, there are many ways that our program participants learn to try new things and advance together. This way, they’re seeing the value in something different and unique, all while working with others.

Adventure Games: Our ropes course is one of the best parts of our program and it encompasses many of the different things we teach our young men in one activity. They work together, learn to think critically, plan ahead, and see the value of hard work.

Prayer And Meditation: We believe that prayer, meditation, and getting involved with a church or religious organization is an excellent way to find structure, meaning, and purpose. They help build community and make people more connected to those around them. We build prayer groups to help our boys find this and see the benefits of spirituality.

Fitness and Exercise: There are multiple CrossFit regimens and fitness-based activities to help build community and bring our members closer together. Not only is working out good for physical and mental health, but it also instills discipline and helps people realize hard work.

Adventure Therapy or “Adventure Day”: Every Saturday, our young boys participate in Adventure Day, where they pick an activity or adventure to take on. It teaches them teamwork and how to dedicate themselves to hard work.

The Carpenter Shed Experiential Therapy Program helps Young Boys Find Purpose, Meaning, And Direction

The Carpenter Shed uses experiential therapy to help young boys move past trauma and find a better version of themselves. Conflicts from the past often lead boys down the wrong path, but with the right therapy, we can help them find purpose, meaning, and direction as young men. Contact us if you or a young man in your life could benefit from our program.