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The Wilderness Phase can be completed in forty-two (42) days. This phase consists of the following modules:
Arrival and Orientation (Week One)
This step orients our students into their new environment.
 During this phase our students are: - Outfitted and taught to use their gear
- Introduced to their therapist, program directors, and wilderness guides
- Acquainted with their treatment blueprint
- Introduced to their group and their group responsibilities are explained
- Given a few days to acclimate to the environment, climate, and altitude
There are times when a new student needs a period to detoxify their system of harmful substances. If necessary, your admissions counselor will determine the need for and length of a detoxifying period.
Cause and Effect (Week Two)
 During the second week at Ashley Valley we begin a discovery process with our students based on the age old principle of cause and effect. We explore how:
- Personal choices affect a person’s level of satisfaction with their lives.
- Setting personal boundaries and being true to personal values affects self-respect and the respect of family, peers, and community.
- Being persistent and working hard will lead to achieving goals in life.
- Making healthy positive choices will lead to rewards and personal satisfaction.
The students participate in professional counseling in which they explore issues causative to their placement in the Ashley Valley program. Professional staff assists in identifying and processing those issues as they begin to develop new perspectives on old patterns of behavior.
Changing Behavior Patterns (Week Three)
When the student accepts responsibility for their current situation we begin to help them overcome the destructive patterns they have developed. During this phase each student will:
- Develop a personal honor code
- Learn how to break free of old emotional patterns
- Eliminate thoughts of failure and move past negative cycles
- Begin to express their emotion in an appropriate way
- Discover better decision making processes
- Develop increased confidence and higher self-esteem
- Acquire a greater awareness of their needs and the needs of others
- Start talking things out rather than acting them out
- Be in control of their emotions rather than letting their emotions control them.
 Life Skill Development (Week Four)
At Ashley Valley our students commit to a personal code of honor and begin to recognize and develop the life skills necessary to live their code. Our students are given the opportunity many times during an average day to display knowledge of these skills through use of experiential games, role-playing, and life situations. The life skills we focus on are:
- Integrity - To have solid integrity is to be honest and sincere. It means using sound moral principle and standing up for personal beliefs and convictions even if others disagree. Understanding and displaying integrity will help a student stay true to their personal beliefs rather than “following the crowd”.
- Effort- The staff at AVW reward effort. If a student tries their hardest we honor that. Practicing and mastering skills takes a great deal of effort. Our students have displayed effort when they complete their tasks to the best of their ability.
- Initiative - Students that demonstrate initiative do so by doing what needs to be done without being asked or prodded. We encourage initiative through appropriate reward and helping the student understand the importance of giving support and helping others.
- Organization- Being organized means being able to plan, keeps things orderly, and easy to access, and use. Students in our camp are required to keep their personal gear and the communal camp clean, orderly, and well-organized.
- Cooperation- Our students learn cooperation by working as a team with other students in the group. They have a common purpose and quickly find that by working together cooperatively they can obtain their individual and communal goals much quicker and easier than if they fail to cooperate. Everyone in our group is required to carry their own weight and as a result they have more fun and gain group acceptance quite easily.
- Patience- Demonstrating patience is a difficult skill for many of our students to master. “When am I going home?”, “How much further is it to the next camp?”, and “Why is it so hard to get my bow-drill fire?” are some common phrases our students say. We define patience as being able to wait calmly when needed, showing diligence in a difficult task, and being tolerant. Simply being in the program at Ashley Valley is a lesson in patience. Our students soon learn they will go home when they complete the program, that the camp doesn’t get any closer by talking about the distance, and that with diligence and patience they will get their fires.
- Perseverance- Being patient and persevering go hand-in-hand. Our students are demonstrating perseverance when they are able to continue in spite of difficulties and have the patience to complete a task to the best of their ability. Many of our wilderness skills are specifically designed to teach our students the reward for being patient and persevering.
- Problem Solving- We present our students with opportunity for problem solving on a regular basis. We define a problem solver as a discoverer; someone that seeks solutions in difficult situations and in every-day life. We encourage our students to use creativity, patience, and perseverance when taking on problem solving tasks.
- Accountability/Responsibility- People that are responsible accept accountability for their actions, meet their obligations, and act appropriately in all situations. They can be counted on.
 Restoring Family and Community Ties (Week Five)
The majority of the students at Ashley Valley have caused chaos in their home and lost the trust of their family, friends, and community. Many of them are unsure what their future holds when they leave Ashley Valley. We work with the family and the student throughout the program to develop boundaries and workable solutions to prior difficulties. During this phase our students are required to:
- Write a “come clean” letter.
- Develop a plan for independent living or work with family/friends to create a home contract.
- Commit to a personal aftercare plan
Planning for the Future (Week Six)
At Ashley Valley we provide a therapist guided program to help our students understand the relationship between education, career, money, and lifestyle. During Week Five the student developed a plan for independent living or created a home contract. The exercises during this week ask real life questions about what they want out of life. They can discover how their hopes and expectations fit in the real world. This planning tool will help each student:
- Envision their future and set specific goals to get there.
- Understand the value of education and committing a life-long learning experience.
- Begin the transition to living independently and becoming an adult in the real world.
- Create a personal business plan that they can come back to again and again as their plans and ideas change.
- Make choices and learn valuable lessons now, and reduce the risk of learning the hard way later.
- Learn a process of envisioning a desired outcome, then doing the research and finding the resources to accomplish the desired outcome.
 Each Ashley Valley student completes a life plan prior to graduation. The plan includes a variety of applicable goals and a written plan for obtaining those goals.
The Wilderness Phase ends with a survival scenario that we refer to as the "Plane Crash" and a graduation ceremony that family and friends are encouraged to attend.
At the time of graduation an adventure quest may be arranged. The staff at Ashley Valley will help schedule an appropriate experience if desired. Some examples of an adventure quest are a river rafting trip, 4-wheeling in the mountains, a fly-fishing seminar with an Orvis instructor, a boating excursion, road trips to local attractions, backpacking, skiing, backcountry yurt-to-yurt trip, or a horse-packing trip.3
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Phase One