Give the gift of nature-based therapy
We are facing a youth mental health crisis in Canada. Young people aged 15-24 are more likely to experience mental illness and substance use than any other age group.
Mental health struggles affect how youth show up at home, in school and their greater communities. Without the right supports in place, youth get overwhelmed, retreat inwards and often turn to unhealthy coping habits that temporarily ease their pain.
With your support, vulnerable youth can get the emotional well-being support they need.
Take a Hike’s innovative alternative education approach engages youth in continuous clinical counselling, regular outdoor adventures, and provides academic support in a safe and caring community.
Nature is healing. Being outside has a restorative power that helps improve our mental health.
And for 190 vulnerable youth in the 13 Take a Hike programs across beautiful BC, the great outdoors is their classroom one day each week. That adds up to over 200 hours in the school year where youth engage in land-based learning and a variety of therapeutic outdoor activities.
Jaimie’s Story
Jaimie was disengaged. He arrived at Take a Hike in 2021 as a shutoff Grade 10 student, showed little interest in socializing with his peers and only answered with single words like “yep” or “no”. For years, nearly invisible, Jaimie silently struggled in the background... falling through the cracks of the mainstream school system, as so many vulnerable youth do.
Jaimie needed a program that would patiently support him and dedicate the time and individual attention to help get his academics and life back on track. His father said Jaimie liked being outside.
Time in nature is an important aspect of the Take a Hike program. The outdoors is a classroom for youth once a week – and in the Fall and Spring, every Take a Hike program ventures out on a multi-day trip.
It was on Jaimie’s first multi-day backpacking trip, where everything changed.
After a long day of hiking and the tents were set up, Jaimie and another Take a Hike youth were giggling in the moonlight down at the beach. When the mental health clinician approached the guys, Jaimie excitedly started telling him about all the fun they were having! Later around the campfire, Jaimie shared “I really like it down here. I feel really safe. It feels like I’m meant to be down on this beach.”
Jaimie was relaxed outside. He uncovered a talkative and playful side to himself... a side he hadn’t felt comfortable bringing to the classroom prior to this outdoor trip.
From then on, Jaimie began talking to his teacher, counselor and peers more. Instead of bottling down his feelings and keeping quiet, he was willing to engage in both group conversations and individual counselling sessions. He found his voice, got his schoolwork back on track and really leaned into the outdoor adventures.
Jaimie will be graduating in June, after three years in the Take a Hike program. He just landed his first job as a dishwasher in a busy kitchen and is currently exploring trade school options in the Fall.
Help youth like Jaimie build their self-confidence, find their voice and fully participate in life. Give the gift of outdoor trips to vulnerable youth today.
Help Youth Go on Outdoor Trips
Outdoor Trip Benefits for Youth
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The outdoors act as a classroom for youth once a week! Cross-curricular academics covering sciences, math, and other subjects are also incorporated into outdoor land-based learning activities, allowing youth to learn hands-on and with real-life applications.
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Devices are designed to capture our constant attention and it can be hard for anyone to pull themself away from their screens. In some Take a Hike programs, youth’s devices are temporarily held by an adult during outdoor trips so that youth can take a break from technology and fully be present with nature and each other.
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Spending time in nature takes youth away from life’s daily stressors and the negative coping mechanisms or habits that they typically turn to in their everyday lives. Being outside on outdoor trips helps youth learn to reflect on how their minds and body feel and explore healthy self-regulation strategies, like breathing, journalling or physical movement instead.
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Healthy relationships are the number one indicator of positive mental health and change. Outdoor trips give youth and staff the chance to get to know each other in a casual and low-pressure environment. These shared, outdoor experiences lead to better peer connections as well as more trusting and secure attachments between youth and staff, which then aid in the social & emotional work and mental health supports provided to youth in the classroom and in counselling sessions.
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Between 50 – 75% of youth leave their hometown for the first time with Take a Hike. Youth learn vital life-skills like packing a backpack for a multi-day trip, preparing and cooking meals, setting up a tent, lighting a campfire, tying knots and so much more.
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With opportunities to hike mountains, paddle long distances and prepare everything needed for an overnight trip in the wilderness, youth are challenging their bodies and minds to persevere through hardships, develop the physical & mental strength and skills to accomplish their goals and truly belief in themselves.
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We respectfully acknowledge the land, oceans and rivers that we adventure on are the unceded, traditional and ancestral territories of the Coast and Interior Salish peoples. The land can be one of our greatest teachers in life and Take a Hike youth learn and practice the responsibility, we as a community, have in caring for our environment.