Discover the Best Short-Term Residential Treatment Jobs: Work In The Outdoors

Residential staff work 8-day shifts at a remote nature-based campus with 1-2 other staff in a group of about 8 students. As residential treatment staff are the people with our students daily, the relationships they form with our students are often the most meaningful and conducive to change. Our residential team works closely with our therapists so that everyone is on the same page regarding an individual student's needs and treatment. The core responsibilities of our residential staff are:

• Work as a cohesive team with their co-staff, providing support and feedback to each other and a consistent, quality program to their students 
• Establish and maintain healthy, appropriate relationships and boundaries with their students 
• Lead their students through the backcountry on regular hikes
• Supervise their students and ensure their safety emotionally, physically and medically.
• Mentor their students in hard (i.e. primitive) and soft (e.g. interpersonal) skills
• Create a safe, inclusive environment where our students can be honest and vulnerable
• Work in tandem with our therapists to assist students in their therapeutic assignments and progress
• Be creative, independent problem solvers able to manage their group on normal days as well as in difficult and demanding situations
• Ensure their conduct and actions align with what it means to be an outdoor professional
• Follow all local, state, and federal laws and regulations, and company policies

Daily routines, as well as the activities within them, are designed to facilitate our holistic treatment approach and experiential curriculum, addressing the mental, emotional, physical, and social development and well-being of our students. Six days on a shift are "activity days" while the other two are "therapy days." While we provide the basic outline for what each of these days should include, our staff have the freedom to choose which experiential activities, group topics, etc. they lead their students in. This means that residential staff can tailor their shift to meet the specific needs of their group and share their areas of expertise.

General Activity Day Outline

Morning
Hygiene process
Breakfast Process
Chores

Afternoon
Experiential/Adventure Activity

Late Afternoon
Value-Based Experiential Curriculum
Other staff facilitated groups

• Support group
• Psychoeducation group
• Skills Training group
• Mindfulness/relaxation group

Complete Therapeutic Assignments are given by Therapists

• Therapy Homework
• Complete pre-session Narrative Family Therapy work.

Evening
Hygiene
Dinner Process

Late Evening
Debriefing Process Group
Bedtime

General Therapy Day Outline

Morning
Hygiene
Breakfast Process

Late morning, Afternoon, Late Afternoon
Individual Therapy Sessions with Therapist (takes place all day for both therapy days)
Experiential/Adventure Activity Group
Value-Based Experiential Curriculum

Other staff facilitated groups

• Support group
• Psychoeducation group
• Skills Training group
• Mindfulness/relaxation group

Complete Therapeutic Assignments are given by Therapists

• Therapy Homework
• Complete pre-session Narrative Family Therapy work.

Milan Process Group
Therapist Facilitated Process Group or Therapeutic Intervention Group.
Individual meeting with Nurse (RN) for weekly med checks
When indicated, meeting with the Medical Director or Psychiatrist for medication management or medical check.

Evening
Hygiene
Dinner Process
Bedtime

ThreePeaks Ascent knows what it takes to be a successful residential staff:

• Love of the outdoors
• A passion for helping others
• Genuine belief that regardless of what's happened, our students and their families can heal,
• Humility
• Mettle
• An insatiable desire to keep learning
• Ability to have firm, healthy boundaries,
• Ability to work well with people--both students and your teammates.

Higher education, certifications, and previous experience are all important and part of how we determine whom we consider for employment. Ultimately though, we hire for character over competence. Then we provide support, resources, and abundant training for our field guides to continue developing the core competencies of a Short-term Residential Treatment Program therapy guide.

The minimum requirements for a field guide are a high school diploma and CPR & 1st Aid. When determining whom to consider for employment, we look for:

• Professional therapy experience
• Professional recreation experience
• Professional experience working with adolescents
• Bachelor's degree in adventure education, outdoor leadership, or something similar
• Bachelor's degree in psychology or something similar
• Clinical First Responder certification
• Mental Health First Aid certification

Most of our residential staff lived in either Cedar City or St. George, Utah. Both are about 45 minutes away from our base in Enterprise, Utah. This means that 4-5 times a month, our staff have a 45-minute drive to work. The cost of living is relatively low in southern Utah. Often residential staff will rent houses, individually or in small groups. Some great websites to look for rentals are:

• Zillow
• Trulia 
• Century 21 Real Estate
• ERA Real Estate
• KSL

Cedar City might be the right choice for you if: You love the snow, want to be near Cedar Breaks NM, prefer to be closer to Salt Lake City, are looking for a smaller city, or you're a Shakespeare fan.

St. George might be the right choice for you if: You love the desert, are a rock climbing, want to be close to the Grand Canyon and Zion NP, or prefer to be closer to Las Vegas.

Pay

Residential staff advance on a level system, where each position requires a certain amount of experience with the program and skill mastery--both primitive and interpersonal. New staff with no previous experience start as Interns. The internship is fully paid and when guides receive their initial training with the program. After the 3 shifts, interns can begin advancing. Assuming that staff follow our advancement track (e.g., aren't an intern longer than 3 shifts), the annual pay range for field guides is $34,000-$54,500. Residential staff are eligible for several bonuses:

$1000 Intern completion bonus
Referral Bonus
Summer Bonuses (when applicable)

Insurance

Residential staff are eligible for insurance after a probationary period. ThreePeaks offers health, dental, vision, and various supplementary insurances and pays the majority of the premiums for their employees. Additionally, if you elect to have the High Deductible Healthcare Plan, ThreePeaks will contribute to your Health Savings Account every month.

Employee Assistance Program

ThreePeaks Ascent offers this free resource to its employees. Our Employee Assistance Program offers free short-term counseling, assessment, referrals, help for caregivers, and crisis services. These resources are 100% free to our employees and confidential.

Professional Development

ThreePeaks Ascent will pay for residential staff to receive Wilderness First Responder certification. If employees are interested in other professional development opportunities, they can create and submit a proposal. Past approved proposals include Clinical First Responder training, various professional conferences, and skills gatherings.

Gear

To congratulate our nature-based residential staff and support them in fulfilling their new responsibilities, ThreePeaks Ascent gives certain required gear items to staff as they advance to new positions, including a map and compass, a hand saw, and a first aid kit.

All core gear is available for purchase at our warehouse, located on-site. Often staff can purchase items here at a greater discount than elsewhere. We also have an ExpertVoice team and individual accounts set up with many professional outdoor gear brands so that our staff can purchase and replace gear affordability, usually 40-60% less than retail.

ThreePeaks Ascent serves adolescents ages 13-17 who are struggling with emotional, behavioral, interpersonal, and substance use disorders. This includes:

• Adoption Issues
• Anxiety
• Attachment Issues
• Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Compulsive Disorder
• Depression
• Failure to Launch
• Family Issues
• Gaming Addiction
• Internet Addiction
• Mood Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD )
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD )
• School Refusal
• Substance Use Disorders
• Trauma

Many of our students have been in treatment before and failed to engage or make progress. The term for this is "treatment resistant." ThreePeaks' program is uniquely well matched to work with these students because our program is completely immersive in the nature therapy experience.

Boundaries

Learning what firm, healthy boundaries look like, then establishing and maintaining them within the right balance of structure and warmth, is the greatest challenge of all residential staff. Enabling, oversharing, being critical or controlling, falling into the roles of parent or friend, or personalizing a student's behavior/experiences are all evidence of broken boundaries. Relationships are an essential part of our program and good boundaries are the path to authentic, meaningful relationships.

On a personal level, poor boundaries also contribute to burnout. Some of our students' stories are of when residential staff find longevity in this work because they have good boundaries emotionally and between personal and professional life.

Balance & self-care

8 days of work followed by 6 days of adventure and play makes it easy to neglect the foundation of self-care: consistency in meeting basic needs. Eating 3 nutritious meals every day, going to bed at the same time and getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night, regular exercise, engaging with your community, etc. are critical for staff to "recharge" during their off time. Field Guides can get so caught up in the possibilities of their long off-shifts that they end up more exhausted by their off time than their time on campus.

Weather

90-100* days. Monsoon season. Snow. Residential staff experience it all. Everyone has their favorite season and develops tricks for living through their not-so-favorite seasons.

Only seeing part of the journey

While ThreePeaks Ascent is often a critical turning point in our students' healing, their journey doesn't end with us. Each student's path to healing (or should we say, of healing) is unique. Our core philosophy is to Disrupt, Assess, and Re-engage, and that looks different for every student. "Completely fix all the problems" isn't a realistic expectation for our program OR our students and their families. We help our students recognize and abandon maladaptive behaviors, understand what is really going on, and develop the tools they need to reconnect with their family and take ownership of their healing. Residential staff need to trust that their good work is impactful even though students don't leave our program perfect, or even in the same place in their journeys.

Making a difference

Field Guides mentor teenagers who desperately need help. You know you are making a real difference. In a world full of suffering, you help people heal. Many field guides have gone through their own difficult journeys and honor those who helped them through "paying it forward" with our students.

Working with good people

This work attracts good people. You work with a supportive, close-knit team who care deeply for each other as humans, not just coworkers. Often the relationships formed with your co-staff become lifelong friendships.

Long off-shifts

Having 6 days off while living near:

• An international airport
• Some of the most breathtaking National Parks in the USA including Zion and Grand Canyon
• Miles and miles of public lands suitable for many kinds of outdoor recreation such as mountain biking and rock climbing makes for endless adventure possibilities.
• Planning trips to visit family and friends is also much easier when you have nearly a week off at a time.

Cheap gear

All the pro-deals. So many pro-deals. Any gear you'd need for this job (plus a LOT more) can be purchased usually for between 40-60% off retail. We have access to hundreds of brands, including many outdoor gear and apparel industry leaders. It's amazing. And it can also be a problem. You definitely have uses for 27 pairs of Chacos, right?

Personal growth

Field Guides don't sit back and direct students, they share the experiences with them. In such a healthy, healing environment, doing such meaningful work, with such good people,

• Gaining mental and behavioral health experience
• Mastery of primitive skills and expert in high desert flora and fauna

Yes! A licensed dietician created and annually reevaluates our diet to ensure our staff and students have foods sufficient in marco and micro nutrients and calories for the environment and exertion of our program. Oats or farina are our breakfast staples and rice & lentils is our dinner staple. Combined with our other foods, you'll find our diet to be nutritious and flexible. Here is our field diet with indications of gluten free (GF), dairy free (DF), vegetarian (VG), and vegan (V).

• Oats (GF, V)
• Farina (V)
• Rice & Lentils (GF, V)
• Seasonal fresh fruits & vegetables (GF, DF, V)
• Dehydrated vegetable & herb mix (GF, DF, V)
• Potato pearls (GF, DF, V)
• Dehydrated refried beans (GF, DF, V)
• Powdered milk (GF, VG)
• Powdered wheat in the winter, whole wheat tortillas in the summer (DF, V)
• Trail mix (DF, VG)
• Chicken-flavored bouillon (GF, DF)
• Beef-flavored bouillon (GF, DF, V)
• Assorted spices (all GF, DF, V)
• Peanut butter (GF, DF, V)
• Cheese (GF, VG)
• Canned tuna, turkey, and ham (GF, DF)