Elements Eclipse offers a specialized outdoor therapy program tailored specifically for adolescent boys, ages 13-17, with complex neurodiversity, including autism spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and processing gaps.
Eclipse is founded on the idea that unique neurodiverse individuals require specialized nature-based treatment designed for them. We should not expect that the same treatment program that works for neurotypical individuals will work for neurodiverse clients. We created a nature-based therapy program that is based on child developmental theory which utilizes proven treatment methods (Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Seven Challenges, PEERS, etc.), and engages clients in outdoor living, adventure, and cooperative activities.
About Elements Eclipse
Eclipse has been successfully serving neurodiverse clients since Elements’ inception in 2008. Over the years, we have continued to refine and specialize the treatment for neurodiverse individuals as we learn more and gain more understanding of neurodiversity and effective treatment modalities.
Eclipse’s clinical team is led by one of the Elements’ owners, Dr. Neal Christensen, which exemplifies Elements’ owner-operated approach. Together Dr. Neal Christensen and Jamie Kaczmarek, LCSW have over 30 years of experience working with neurodiverse adolescents in an outdoor therapy setting.
Our Approach
At Eclipse, we value diversity and respect the unique qualities and perspectives that make each person who they are. We believe a diverse set of experiences and viewpoints helps young people better understand themselves and the world around them. We work to create a culture in which everyone is treated kindly by others even if there are differences, disagreements, or challenging situations to cope with.
We have five tenets to our program:
Celebrate Diversity: We aspire to create a world where neurodiversity is not only accepted but celebrated, where every person can flourish in an inclusive environment that values their individuality.
Build Resilience: Our program seeks to empower clients to build emotional resilience, equipping them with the tools to navigate life’s challenges with confidence and grace. Our adventures encourage clients to step outside their comfort zones, promoting personal growth, self-discovery, and a sense of accomplishment and confidence.
Foster Connection: We aim to cultivate meaningful connections among clients, helping them forge friendships and build a supportive network that extends beyond our adventures.
Promote Inclusivity: We commit to breaking down barriers and promoting inclusivity in all aspects of life, advocating for a world where diversity is recognized and respected.
Embrace Strengths: Our program recognizes and harnesses the unique strengths of each individual, fostering a sense of pride and empowerment in their abilities.
Why Choose Eclipse?
Tailored Support: We understand the unique needs of adolescents with neurodiversity and provide personalized support to help them thrive.
Expert Guidance: Eclipse by Elements is led by top clinicians with expertise in neurodiversity, ensuring the highest level of care and support.
Holistic Well-Being: Our program prioritizes the holistic well-being of participants, addressing physical, emotional, and social needs.
Staff Consistency: Unlike other treatment programs, our frontline staff work with clients for 8 days straight. This benefits Eclipse clients in a number of ways: they are able to develop strong relationships with staff who are living alongside them, staff are able to give consistent in-the-moment coaching to clients, and it contributes to the feeling of structure and predictability which is foundational to the success of the Eclipse program.
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Treatment Modalities:
Outdoor Living
Mobile Base Camp: Generally speaking, the group arrives at basecamp on Monday evening and heads out on expedition Thursday morning. The basecamp is set up and broken down weekly, so it is in a different place each week depending on where the group travels on expedition that week. While in basecamp, clients have access to an activity tent, and hot shower. The Activity Tent is used for playing games, relaxing, socializing, participating in group therapy, and winding down at night before bed. The time spent at basecamp is a time and place to rest, reflect and restore.
Expedition: While on expedition, the group will hike with backpacks to their next campsite some days as well as participate in adventure activities.
Nutrition & Cooking in the Outdoors: Eclipse provides a diverse and healthy array of foods for clients to prepare individually as well as a group. We are accustomed and happy to work with food sensitivities, and we strive to create a stress free environment around food for all clients.
Consistency and Structure: We understand that living outdoors for weeks at a time is a new and potentially stressful experience for many of our clients. The Eclipse program is structured so that days and activities are predictable because we understand that when things are predictable they’re less stressful.
At Elements Eclipse, our adventure activities are offered every week as a two day experience. Our adventure activities (rock climbing, rappelling, mountain biking, stand up paddleboarding, and more) are tailored to all skill levels and no prior experience is necessary. The first day is focused on learning the new skill, becoming familiar with the equipment, setting up gear, and feeling prepared for the next day. The second day is spent actually doing the activity.
We utilize the “Choose Your Challenge” model where every client gets to choose what their challenge will be. Sometimes that is just putting on the equipment, sometimes that is sitting on the paddleboard in shallow water, sometimes that is climbing up to the top of the rock wall. For every client it looks different. We help clients set individual goals in regards to their challenge each week.
At Elements we use every opportunity available to us to incorporate the entire family system wherever possible. As such, each family will have a host of opportunities to engage with their son in the program, be it via therapeutically driven letters and phone calls, embedded in the group for one or more overnight visits, or immersed in a 3-day Family Focus. Most of our parents engage in all aspects of family communication and visits, including bringing siblings or other close family members out for the Family Focus.
After treatment at Eclipse, clients will see improvement in the following areas:
Self-Acceptance: Foundationally, we work hard to help individuals truly accept themselves through a better understanding of their unique set of talents and challenges.
Emotional Regulation: Strengthening the ‘mind-body connection’ to better control emotional states, to manage thinking and behavior effectively.
Social Learning: Engagement in healthy relationships through adventure and daily challenges. Your child will learn to navigate, cooperate, and expand their social world.
Executive Functioning: Gather an arsenal of skills to help cope more effectively with the demands in their social, family and academic environments. Confront fears and embrace an “I can and I will” attitude.
Family Cohesion: Cohesive family support anchored in empathy and attunement. Develop appropriate expectations by understanding your unique child’s experience holistically.
Academic Credits
As 13-17 year olds, our clients are without exception all students too. Their education is incredibly important, and for many families, the changes in their child’s grades served as a real warning to deeper underlying concerns that led them to seek help in the first place.
Although our primary goals are emotional, psychological, and interpersonal education, traditional education is always important.
Our objective is to get all our clients back into real life feeling empowered to take on the next challenges, not feeling hopeless and behind. The reality is that most of our clients learn more and work harder in their short time with us than they have in the years leading up to their arrival at Elements. That is why we partnered with Dorius Academy (Accredited through Cognia) to help our clients gain academic credit for the work they are already doing here. We offer up to 3.5 credits for clients who complete the Elements outdoor therapy program.
FAQ
Does your program have special training that qualifies you to work with Neurodiversity?
Yes.
In addition to years of specialty practice and training, the Eclipse Clinical Team is certified in PEERS®
Why Eclipse uses PEERS® (The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) is world-renowned for providing evidence-based social skills programs to preschoolers, adolescents, and young adults who are interested in developing and maintaining close friendships and/or romantic relationships:
common language for parents and adolescents to enhance and support peer/professional relationships
decreases social anxiety
increases self confidence
increases independent skills
gain opportunities to enter new situations easier
increases awareness of other people’s perspectives and intentions
increases risk assessment for possible people who bully or tease
practice in “real” time to increase skill confidence
Why is an outdoor program a good place to work with neurodiversity?
The outdoors provides a healthy place to remove distractions and allow our clients to hone in on the work they need to do.
Why can’t clients bring their own gear and equipment from home?
Safety.
We have used our 15 years in operation to constantly work towards finding the best gear we can provide for life in the outdoors, which is always found somewhere in the balance between lightweight and durability. Some tech gear is perfect for what we do, and some might be top shelf, but is only designed for short stints in the outdoors (folks commonly called “weekend warriors”) or for folks who go exercise outside but who never sit around a campfire for warmth and camaraderie. Over the years we have constantly been evaluating, reevaluating, and tweaking our gear offerings to continue to provide the best gear possible for the specific needs of our clients and staff.
When we provide the gear, we know what we are working with and what it can handle. We also can replace it should it be damaged or lost.
When our clients are out in their group, all the external signifiers of their identity are no longer important. They are who they are, and no matter how they dressed at home or what cliques they belonged to, all our clients get to show their authentic self from inside out, not based on how they appear on the outside.
Do you use deprivation of food/water to “punish” clients?
No.
We never withhold food/water or use it, or any direct needs of a client, as a consequence.
Does your program philosophy or approach ever ascribe to or attempt to “break clients down”?
No.
Not only has the concept of “breaking clients down in order to build them back up” been thoroughly debunked in all clinical research studies as harmful and ineffective, none of us or our program staff would work at a place that was designed to force its will on others. There is unfortunately still evidence of “boot camp” “tough love” or “scared straight” programs out there, but we unequivocally condemn that approach as harmless and completely ineffective. We believe that clients need to feel psychologically, emotionally, and physically safe in order to affect internalized change. They need buy in, not pressure or force. The outdoors is a place to gain perspective, empowerment, and buy in.
Do you ever force clients to hike?
No.
Hiking is of course a part of the program and the only way to get from one gorgeous side of our field to another. There are all kinds of beautiful spots for adventure along the way, but we encourage our clients to get there under their own power. We believe in exercise and movement, we believe that our clients are capable of far more than they think, and we believe that nature is the best place to find oneself. That said, we never hike faster than the capability of our slowest hiker, and we never force clients to hike. On average, our hikes are only 2-3 miles in length and hikes happen 2-5 days a week, with a typical week having 3 hikes.
Do you have any external oversight into your practices?
Yes, by two separate entities.
1. Licensing: The Utah State Department of Health and Human Services. The state of Utah is well known for its history of outdoor therapeutic programming, some of which in decades past was unfortunately proven to not be very therapeutic. As a result of mistakes made by programs that bear almost no resemblance to our own, Utah has the most robust laws that we know around outdoor treatment. These laws regulate nearly every detail of outdoor life, the qualifications for staff positions, grievance processes, confidential communication with parents and guardians, and much more. We at Elements welcome all state oversight as we have nothing to hide. Our state licensing representatives have the right to (and frequently do) arrive unannounced and interview our clients privately to ensure they are being treated with dignity and respect.
2. Accreditation: The Association of Experiential Education (AEE). AEE has written “best practice” standards for outdoor therapeutic treatment that are equally robust and meet or exceed (usually far exceed) what is required by the state of Utah. They, in conjunction with the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council (OBH), created an accreditation process that thoroughly reviews all policies and practices by accredited programs. Elements is proud to have been the 3rd program to achieve such accreditation and has maintained good standing since then.
Does Elements force or encourage families to have their children transported to treatment?
No.
Elements encourages its families to bring their loved one in person, yet parents are the only parties who could know how to safely get their loved one engaged in the treatment process. Regardless of how any client enters treatment, family work is a key component of therapy at Elements, and families are involved in multiple entry points weekly; and asked to visit in person at least once during the process.
In its ideal form, the transportation process is done with and through the family members, with as much transparency as possible without compromising individual safety. Transportation to treatment is no substitute for up front and transparent communication within the family, at the very least in the moment if safety precludes any other options.
Elements has no direct or indirect, legal, or financial connection to any transportation service provider, and the decision to use such a service is solely the decision of the family itself.
Where do other clients typically come from?
Throughout the US and abroad.
Although we are in the gorgeous backcountry of Utah, the vast majority of Elements clients come from all parts of the country, with a few clients every year coming from abroad. Although our clients come from all walks of life, groups typically find that in the outdoors, we all have far more in common than we would expect.
How does communication work between clients and their families at Elements?
All communication is facilitated through your group’s primary therapist.
Clients have access to zoom and phone calls as determined by their therapist.
Most communication is done through letter writing. This is a great way to get some healthy space, slow things down and allow for more mindful communication.
How much involvement is required by the family?
Family involvement is critical piece of the treatment process at Elements.
The Primary Therapist communicates an update at least weekly with key family members.
There is an entire program included for parents/guardians. This includes educational seminars and bi-weekly support groups via zoom, 3-4 sessions of parent coaching/guiding with a licensed, tenured clinician and a 1-2 day visit during their loved ones stay at Elements.
Families also have the opportunity to enroll in a three-day family intensive, Family Focus.
Is Elements a “boot camp”?
No.
Elements is in no way, shape, or form a “boot camp.” Likewise, we do not operate on a deprivation model nor is our program a “survival” program. Our program is an outdoor therapy program.
The difference between boot camps and outdoor therapy programs is substantial. We have listed a couple of the easiest ways to decipher between them here:
Boot camps are typically state-funded and are designed as a last step before incarceration for behaviorally-out-of-control clients.
The foundation of boot camp is militaristic and aggressive and seldom contains therapeutic components.
The philosophy of boot camp is typically one in which the program believes they can change people if they apply enough pressure and difficulty.
Outdoor therapy programs are typically privately run, have licensed therapists, and are evidence-based (using practices proven by clinical research studies). They typically work with a variety of clients who have a large variety of issues, but most do not admit clients who have a long history of involvement with the law.
Is outdoor therapy safe?
Yes.
Emotional, physical, and psychological safety is our top priority.
Daily we provide clients the training, gear, and tools to keep yourself safe.
Professional mentors, highly trained professionals, are always camping and providing supervision and support to you and your group.
Outside resources are available 24/7 to support individuals and groups in getting their needs met.
Is my child going to be outside all the time?
By design, Eclipse is a program that supports a journey through the natural world in tandem with our clients’ journey of growth and self-discovery. All they learn from being outside is evidence of how much they are capable of, and our clients are so often amazed at their own strength and tenacity.
This journey consists of hiking from one beautiful spot in the red rock desert or alpine backcountry to another, and is punctuated by layover days (or base camp days) where a mobile base camp is set up to accommodate the group’s resupply and therapy.
Although the majority of the program is intentionally designed for the great outdoors, there are options to go inside with the group that vary throughout the year. Eclipse has yurt-like gathering tents with wood-burning stoves for hanging out with the group and spending time together.
In the winter, tents like these are also used as sleeping shelters during base camp days.
Does your program have special training that qualifies you to work with neurodivergent clients?
Yes.
In addition to years of specialty practice and training, the Eclipse Clinical Team is certified in PEERS®
Why Eclipse uses PEERS® (The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) is world-renowned for providing evidence-based social skills programs to preschoolers, adolescents, and young adults who are interested in developing and maintaining close friendships and/or romantic relationships:
common language for parents and adolescents to enhance and support peer/professional relationships
decreases social anxiety
increases self confidence
increases independent skills
gain opportunities to enter new situations easier
increases awareness of other people’s perspectives and intentions
increases risk assessment for possible people who bully or tease
§practice in “real” time to increase skill confidence
Why is an outdoor program a good place to work with neurodivergent clients?
The outdoors provides a healthy place to remove distractions and allow our clients to hone in on the work they need to do.
Is my child going to be outdoors all the time?
Yes.
By design, Eclipse is a program that supports a journey through the natural world in tandem with our clients’ journey of growth and self-discovery. All they learn from being outside is evidence of how much they are capable of, and our clients are so often amazed at their own strength and tenacity.
This journey consists of hiking from one beautiful spot in the red rock desert or alpine backcountry to another and is punctuated by layover days (or base camp days) where a mobile base camp is set up to accommodate the group’s resupply and therapy.
Although the majority of the program is intentionally designed for the great outdoors, there are options to go inside with the group that vary throughout the year. Eclipse has yurt-like gathering tents with wood-burning stoves for hanging out with the group and spending time together.
In the winter, tents like these are also used as sleeping shelters during base camp days.
Experience Eclipse
Join us at Eclipse by Elements and embark on a transformative journey towards social and emotional growth. To learn more about our program or to inquire about enrollment, please contact us today. We look forward to guiding you on your path to empowerment and discovery.
(866) 542-2252 
