Emily Demong, LCSW

Clinical Director & Therapist

Co-founder, Owner

Emily has worked with adolescents and families in wilderness settings since 1996 as a therapist, field guide, and field director.  Emily grew up in Vermont and earned her BA with high honors from Bates College in Maine, where she focused her undergraduate coursework on adolescent girls’ psychology and creative writing.  After graduating from college, Emily worked as a teaching fellow at an arts-based public elementary school in New York City.  On a wilderness trip in Alaska with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in 1995, Emily discovered she could combine two of her passions: working with youth and being outdoors. Since then, she has worked for Aspen Achievement Academy, Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, Connecticut Wilderness School, and NOLS. In 2005, Emily earned a Master’s of Social Work from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.  Experienced as a therapist, field instructor, trainer, logistics coordinator, emergency responder, and field director, Emily holds a comprehensive view of wilderness therapy.

Emily’s areas of clinical expertise include depression, anxiety, grief and loss, trauma, self-harm, disordered eating, and adoption and attachment issues.  Her clinical approach is informed by cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic, family systems, and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) theories. Attachment theory is also a model that strongly informs her practice.  Emily co-authored an article entitled, Treating Adolescents with Adoption and Attachment Issues in Wilderness Therapy Settings. Emily’s work with students includes creative approaches, such as poetry and art, and an emphasis on supporting students in developing healthy emotional regulation skills.  Relationship building through letter writing is also a major focus of her work with students and families.  Emily works primarily with adolescent girls and has been the team leader of Open Sky’s adolescent girls’ team since its inception.

Emily has been a yoga practitioner since 1999 and completed a teacher training course with Richard Freeman in Boulder, Colorado in 2002.  She loves reading, writing, mountain biking, telemark skiing, rock climbing, spending time with friends and family, and cooking with foods from the local farmer’s market.