Adventure and Transformation Through Outdoor Education Learning at Oasis Boys Ranch

Outdoor Education at Oasis Boys Ranch is an adventure-based learning program for a young boy’s behavior modification and interpersonal self-improvement. When a troubled boy enters our rustic 1800’s lifestyle base camp in northwest Wyoming, he experiences new challenges and opportunities each day that impact how he thinks, feels, and behaves.

Our experienced staff helps boys rewire their brains through Love and Logic® therapy and practicing new habits consistently over time. This approach can be more successful, especially for boys who don’t want to go back to intensive therapies.

We also actively combine hands-on experiential education with individual and group therapeutic all done in a wilderness setting on our 50,000-acre family-owned ranch.

Wilderness Experiential Learning Changes Everything

Experiential expeditions has long been acknowledged as an amazing and effective way to help preteen and teen boys reset their values of life. Because wilderness learning takes boys out of their familiar home and comfort zone, each young boy experiences challenges that push the boundaries of his personal skills, and what he knows about himself. In these opportune moments, Oasis Boys Ranch staff will provide him with the knowledge and tools he needs to overcome obstacles in the wilderness, and within himself.

The interventions performed by the Oasis Boys Ranch staff promote growth in the areas of self-worth, and dignity that will allow struggling boys to do the painstaking task of looking inward. We understand that wounded youth are at times too vulnerable to do this type of radical interiorization, however, with the character growth that occurs through the program/ranch activities, he will naturally develop the skills to confront and challenge his idealized perception of self.

Struggling teens are constantly battling for a sense of identity, purpose, and of “belonging to something”. The deviant culture that teens who have low self-esteem gravitate towards are drugs, porn, opioids, vaping, Jules, gangs, cliques, and social media cults. The cost of conforming to groups that exhibit high-risk behavior is changing our client’s values and moral beliefs. Boys desperately need something or someone to believe in and, conversely, someone to believe in them. We will gently guide our clients into a relationship with God/Higher Power and help them open their hearts to kindness, mercy, and serenity. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have demonstrated, and proven, that the only approach for long-term success in overcoming behavioral issues starts with surrendering to a Higher Power.

Each boy will learn how to identify his shortcomings and weaknesses, their behavioral effects, and how to grow the opposing virtue which will help him eliminate his destructive behaviors. They will learn to listen to their moral conscience and to be more attuned towards ethical promptings that require the courage to say “no,” thus resulting in strength and integrity that results in impulse control.

Wilderness expeditions helps a young boy leave negative worlds behind, and take root in a positive, healthy environment, where he can learn and develop new ways to think and behave.

His wilderness experience disrupts dysfunctions, changes perceptions, and provides valuable opportunities to work with and rely on one another. Wilderness expeditions allows time for young boys to think and explore who they are, and who they can become.

As boys share this challenging adventure together, new friendships build a sense of community and improve their self-esteem. Ultimately, our wilderness learning program helps each boy reflect on how he thinks, feels, and behaves in difficult situations. And with experiential learning and support from mentors, young boys can heal and improve their emotional, mental, and physical health at Oasis Boys Ranch.

A Change of Culture:

The at-risk teens who come to Oasis Boys Ranch are immediately immersed in a culture that is based on honesty, work ethic, faith, dignity, and respect. In an attempt to simplify the lives of young men used to so many technological distractions (cell phones, tablets, TV, etc.), the rural location of our program is an ideal place for clients to redirect with self through nature and to develop alternative, outdoor recreations that urban environments do not have. Our boys are given a chance to hike, fish, camp, and hone their horsemanship skills, not only in the manner of an “equine therapy” which has gained recent popularity in many youth programs but also in “Cowboy Horsemanship” that is learned in authentic, real-life, working situations.

Oasis Boys Ranch is a privately owned, Christian-based, non-therapeutic group home for at-risk teenage boys, whose employees are dedicated to an “Apostolic Paternal Teaching” designed to strengthen the body, educate the mind, and elevate the spirit of its clients. Employees recognize diversity in our society and embrace a cross-cultural approach in support of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of each individual.