SPANISH FORT, Ala. — An Outward Bound Discovery program for at-risk youths is being held on the Eastern Shore. The program focuses on team building, challenges and problem solving initiatives, said Lynn Yonge, M.D.

Yonge is the director of the Five Rivers base of Outward Bound Discovery. The youths that attend the program are at risk for academic failure or dropping out of school or at risk for being chronic crime offenders, so the mission is to keep the kids crime-free and in school, according to the Web site.

Two different programs are offered at the local facility: Families in Need of Services and Short Term Expeditions Program.

“The wilderness provides a perfect classroom,” Yonge said.

Because of this local program’s success, it has become a national model for Outward Bound, Yonge said.

The wilderness is an 18-day classroom where 13- to 17-year-old at-risk youths learn how to persevere, Yonge said.

“The wilderness mimics the stresses they have at home,” Yonge said.

This week, the kids were evacuated from the woods because of the weather so they have to face challenges and learn from the experience, he said.

“Life is full of challenges and this is one of them,” Yonge said.

When they misbehave at camp they are taught how to handle situations better or communicate in more effective ways, he said.

Outward Bound was founded because of World War II when new recruits for the merchant marines did not handle stress well. It was created to teach soldiers how to survive attacks by submarines, Yonge said. The purpose of the program is to challenge students and help them develop confidence and deal with life more effectively.

The program focuses on working on old behaviors and learning new ones. Yonge said they work hard to identify problems and find simple tools that can improve communication and work with the family.

“We really reinvent family on how they do their family business,” he said. The program teaches kids how to cool down and use communication skills, he said. The program has contacts with the Alabama State Lands Division and private property owners who will let the group camp in certain campsites.

Five Rivers Delta Resource Center is where the group meets for orientation and gear check, Five Rivers DIrector Hank Burch said.

There are nine courses a year, with the maximum capacity of 11 kids at a time. The Families in Need of Services courses are for youth who are not in significant trouble with the law, but considered at-risk.

Judges will often allow children with truancy issues or who are in alternative schools to attend the course. Participants have to cook their own food, wash their own laundry and have no access to showers. “Instead of being shipped off to other places or being held in the Baldwin County detention center, this is a win-win situation for the county,” Yonge said.

Baldwin County has contracted for boys that are in jail in Baldwin County to attend a short term expedition program, which can be ordered by a judge.

Judges feel that because the time in the wilderness is so rugged that 30 days in wilderness is equivalent to 90 days in a detention center, Yonge said.

However, Yonge said this is not a boot camp and only for low level offenders and four to five boys are being served. The success rate is 80 percent with staying out of trouble with the law, he said.

“The public needs to know that it is cost effective,” Yonge said. “It’s cheaper, shorter and it makes good sense because the kids get good skills. They learn how to take care of themselves and that is the kind of skills you want them to have.”

Yonge said the Baldwin County school system has a cooperative relationship with them and will give excused absences to students attending the program. In Florida, the school system actually gives school credits to youth attending these programs, which may eventually happen in Baldwin County, Yonge said.

So far there have been 40 kids in the program due to the generosity of the people of Baldwin County, Yonge said. The fees are on a sliding scale, but free to those who cannot afford it. The majority of students are referred by school guidance counselors, from the legal system or from requests from parents.

Aside from the 18 nights in the woods, there is a 10-day follow-up where the program staff work with the families and the schools. At three, six and 12-month intervals the staff will check on the youth to see how they are doing.

Yonge said, by leading the program, “I have been a physician for more than 20 years and I can get more information from kids.”

“When routine methods don’t work, these kids end up going to jail or failing school,” he said. “The lesson of being in the woods is being around caring people.”

BREAKOUT:

If you would like to donate to the Outward Bound Discovery program or need more information, contact Dr. Lynn Yonge at 990-8860.