The Development of Self in Relationships: Youths' Narratives of Change Through a Residential, Wilderness and Family Therapy Intervention

One exceptional intervention for youth struggling with addictive behaviour and mental health concerns is Pine River Institute (PRI), a program for youth that combines four distinct types of services: wilderness therapy, residential treatment, parent intervention, and aftercare services. The goal of this study was to capture the youth voice regarding their journey of change through the program. Specifically, I interviewed 10 youth at different stages of the program using a semi-structured interview guide and thematic analysis to analyze the transcripts. A model emerged from the interviews that delineates the core challenges youth faced before beginning the program, the changes they feel they had made, the elements of the program linked to these changes, as well as a description of how youth engaged with one of the core tasks of adolescence (identity formation in the context of relationships). The results of this study have implications for program development and program evaluation.