Ridge Creek Therapeutic Boarding School

Outdoor Wilderness Leadership Program

www.ridgecreek.org

Located in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains, Ridge Creek Wilderness is a 28 day therapeutic wilderness program for troubled teens.

Ridge Creek Wilderness is essentially designed for adolescents grades 7th through 12th. Students learn how their actions, thoughts and feelings affect themselves and others. They gain a new perspective dealing with their issues in a more positive way. Students learn leadership skills which contain timely and effective counseling interventions.

The program has an intense physical component, coupled with a counseling and wilderness intervention model. It provides an opportunity for adolescents to think without being mired in the distractions and traps that ordinarily surround them. The goals are to help them consider positive things they can do to eliminate self-destructive behaviors, and to develop confidence, self-esteem, and leadership skills that will help them succeed throughout their lives.

Fighting fear at Ridge Creek School

As he stands on a small wooden ledge 60 feet above the litter of the forest floor, he feels a strength, a confidence, the likes of which he has never experienced in his young, troubled life. He also feels fear. A deep, gut-whirling, knuckle-clinching... To read the rest of this article, please click here

Shifting perspectives at Ridge Creek

The mountain seems unending, stretching up as far as the forest will allow her to see. The ground is littered with rocks, pebbles, and downed limbs, and it's all that she can do to keep her footing on this unrelenting hike up the side of this eternal mountain. She can see each of her rapid breaths... To read the rest of this article, please click here

With five students finishing in the top half of a 600-person, charitable run, the Ridge Creek Running Club made a strong showing at its first outing. The 5k Etowah River Run is an annual event staged to raise money for a worthy environmental cause. Participants come from all over the southeast to lend their time, muscles, and feet to help finance the clean-up and maintenance of the Etowah River and watershed, a vital water source and recreational area for Lumpkin and surrounding counties. With 600 participants, the course was packed, and, yet, several RCS Running Club members managed to make strong finishes. 3 student club members completed the race in the top 100 and 3 others placed highly in the top half of the field. With this run under their belt, club members are looking forward to their next challenge, a 5k run benefiting efforts to fight childhood obesity to be staged this coming weekend.