Support for Josiah's Wilderness Therapy Treatment

Friends,

Our son, Josiah, is currently participating in a wilderness therapy program in Utah. In addition to learning to survive in a wilderness setting, he will be completing a specially designed curriculum to assist him in learning to process through certain aspects of his trauma as well as manage his emotions and behaviors that have resulted in his current need for more intensive intervention and care. He will be working through a three-phase program that is designed to provide him with the chance to learn more about himself, his issues and what it will take for him to resume a fulfilling, productive life. The length of treatment varies based upon the time he takes to achieve his treatment goals, but it is an average of 120 days.

Josiah’s Story – We are going to leave the details of his story vague out of respect for his privacy, but Josiah has experienced a lot of adversities in his life (for those of you aware of ACE scores, his is a 10). Combine these early life experiences with the normal difficulties of transitioning into the teenage years and you can imagine the struggle. His trauma history has resulted in a significant void in his self-worth and ability to be relationally connected to those who love and care for him.

Our Story – Kassidy went on a 40-day backpacking trip with a wilderness ministry program in 2016. It was a pivotal point in her life and really helped her grow as a person and follower of Christ. I (Ben) could not believe how much more confidence and strength Kassidy displayed after her wilderness experience. She has done and accomplished so many things that she never thought she could before, including saying “yes” to me when I asked her to be my wife! We married in September of 2017, trained to become foster parents in September of 2018, opened as a foster home in February of 2019, and adopted our son in December of 2019. This September we will be celebrating four years of marriage, and what a journey it has been! We knew going into marriage that we wanted adoption to be a part of our future, but adopting a 12-year-old when we were 26/27 years old was not part of our vision. We are so thankful that God’s vision and provision is so much greater than our own! We knew we were entering into a significant commitment, but we trusted God’s faithfulness and believed Josiah was worth any sacrifices that would need to be made.

Our Post-Adoption Story – Our belief in God’s faithfulness and our willingness to sacrifice has been tested more than we could have imagined. We still have no doubt that God placed Josiah in our home for a reason and that Josiah is worth all the sacrifices made up to this point and whatever sacrifices that are yet to come. But it has been a difficult road. Josiah has been in outpatient therapy for a long time and has struggled with many social, emotional, and behavioral issues. Over the past several months, he has had a drastic decline including multiple acute behavioral hospital stays, ER visits, legal trouble, and court involvement. All these placements have unfortunately resulted in even more attachment disruptions, but due to the level of his behaviors we have had no choice but to allow him to stay in these more restrictive environments. As a family, we have been on a chaotic emotional roller coaster, and have experienced marital strain and significant attachment wounds in our child-parent relationship. We have sought wise counsel, tried a large variety of approaches and adjustments, and have utilized every resource we can find, but he has continued down a path of disruptive and self-destructive behaviors that have taken a heavy toll on all of us. A lot of doors have closed during our pursuit for help, but this wilderness therapy program has been an answered prayer. We know there is still a lot of healing left to be done when he returns home, but we believe this is the necessary step to set us all up for success as a family and for our son as a young man.

God has already provided so much for us as a family. We can so easily trace His hand over the whole adoption process, and though it has felt a little too dark lately to be able to trace His hand so clearly, we still know He is at work in each of our hearts and in our family’s story. We are confident that God has big plans for Josiah and that this wilderness therapy program is going to be used for His glory. Payments for the program are split into 5 installments -- one at intake, on day 30, 60, 90, and 120. The program costs cover everything he needs while in treatment (clothing, food, equipment, curriculum, etc.) We are hoping to fundraise this $8,250 in order to help with the remaining installments and ease some of the financial burden that comes with trying to set Josiah up for a healthy, fulfilling future.

Thank you!