Open Sky Testimonials

We are so impressed with how our child thrived at Open Sky. She shows pride and organizational skills we knew she had but were buried by her mental health issues. She is healthy and happy and excited to show off what she has learned.

Learning how to be self-reliant lead to the type of self-love our daughter desperately needed. Her therapist was exceptional. Witnessing the graduation ceremony showed me how deeply in tune these young students have become to themselves and others.

All of the field guides were amazing. They worked so work to help me change my life, even though they will never truly see the product of their labor. I am forever grateful for the experience they gave me.

My daughter had participated and completed numerous therapeutic programs prior to Open Sky without meaningful improvement in her overall health. Open Sky offered a different approach and experience and has made meaningful change in our daughter and family.

My favorite part of Open Sky was getting to know all my team members and the guides. I love the connections I’ve made here. I feel as if each person’s individual perspective has brought new light and guidance to my life and journey.

Our son has truly blossomed being at Open Sky. Coming to this program was the best decision we have made as parents.

Our family has hope now thanks to Open Sky.

I have never in my life opened up like I did this at Family Quest. I cried twice, which may have been the first time my son has seen me cry. Time slowed down and we were able to really be with each other. I’ll never forget the hard lessons. I really believe we will be so much more open with each other moving forward. Family Quest was vital to our journey.

From drop off to graduation, the entire Open Sky team was amazing. All the staff were so helpful and caring in very stressful situations.

My favorite part of Open Sky was the community within the team. The family bond I formed in the field with my teammates is nothing like I’ve felt anywhere else. I strongly feel that without the community we had and the emotional safety we held, recovery to this degree would not have been possible.

I love the family aspect of Open Sky. We felt integrated into the process and understood our child’s journey. I felt his therapists had a very accurate read on him from the very beginning.

A great strength of the program is how the guides and therapists create community among the ever-changing team. My child was able to learn many excellent life skills and practice them in a safe environment. We are very grateful for Open Sky.

My favorite part of Open Sky was getting really close with my team and making lifelong friendship. Open Sky taught me to value connection again.

Open Sky changed my life. I really think this place brings out the best in all of us.

It was so worthwhile to do Family Quest and get a flavor of what our child has been through. It was so important to have a period to see where our child is as we prepare to transition to aftercare. I can’t imagine making that transition without this interlude to reconnect.

I really loved the whole experience of Wellness Weekend. The facilitators were excellent, the yoga was fun, and there were great materials and content. I appreciated the awesome intentionality and mindfulness, as well as the attunement to the adult learning approach.

My favorite part of Open Sky was being in a group of very supportive individuals who are here for similar reasons, as well as having a fun, supportive guide team.

Everyone working at Open Sky is dedicated, caring, and compassionate. This allowed me to fully trust my daughter being in the program.

Wellness Weekend was so supportive! I loved being able to ask questions and receive heartfelt answers with people who have been through this. It was a turning point for me emotionally.

Our Family Quest facilitators were extremely effective at fostering communication between us and our daughter, especially the hard-to-talk-about issues.

Family Quest was the most unbelievable experience I could have ever experienced with my daughter. I chose to go at the end of the program and got to see her in her element. We were ready and open with hard conversations we couldn’t have before and were guided in our new way of communication.

My favorite part of the program was having peers and guides to support me 24/7 and being able to interact with family and work on our shared values. I also appreciated having a therapist who gave me individual goal plans and set intentions for each week. At first, I didn’t want to participate in activities. Eventually, I opened up to the program and now I feel like a new girl!

I love the holistic model and the quality of the staff here at Open Sky. The therapists and field guides are excellent and inspirational.

Family Quest was a profound experience for me. I feel like it opened up a completely new, open, and honest way of communication for our family. All families should have this experience.

My favorite part of Open Sky was the ability to have a safe environment where anything could be shared. This made it super easy to be vulnerable, and I was even able to come out to my family about my gender identity. I was afraid all my issues would get worse. I was completely wrong. Everything got better.

We love Open Sky. The family parallel process was supportive and helpful, but the most important part was the relationships with the student and guides and therapist in the milieu.

My favorite part of the program was the parallel process. I benefited by doing the work too. I learned strategies that are immediately supporting my emotional growth. I feel I can now better support my family’s emotional growth.

I really appreciated the focus on treating and healing the whole family. Open Sky sees the family as an interconnected organism. Each member’s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health is valued and fostered toward wholeness. The company culture is strong. Each person we interacted with was authentic and intentional in what they said, how they said it, and throughout all their actions. I will be forever grateful.

I loved interacting with the guides and getting support from my team. Coming together was really powerful.

My favorite part of the program was interacting in nature with my peers and the knowledge that the guides had to offer. I enjoyed this part the most because I love to learn and understand the world around me. My biggest fear was that I wouldn’t get to the root problem and my time here would just put be a temporary fix for what was really going on. Instead, I was able to take a look from the outside and inside and understand my past trauma and work on improving my life.

Open Sky is well run, efficient, mindful, and gives ample support to parents as we navigate the unknown. I always felt heard and supported. I got a lot out of the family calls on Thursday nights with other parents of students. I also think Wellness Weekend was especially impactful.

My favorite part of Open Sky was making new friends. They taught me how to open up and be vulnerable, especially in groups, which is not something I was able to do beforehand. Overall, they provided a lot of support and I believe the group dynamics had a huge impact on me.

My favorite part of the program was the support system I got from my guides and teammates, and the therapists kept me in check. I enjoyed the traditions we shared at Open Sky and all the love that goes around.

Open Sky addressed our family as a whole, not just our daughter, and gave us a common language and a new way of interacting with each other.

I loved the community living, being challenged and supported every day by peers and guides, the balance of fun and serious moments, and all the leadership opportunities.

We can’t thank you enough.  The focus on mindfulness and holistic approach to wellness. The utmost care and compassion for students and families. This has been a life-changing experience for all of us. I hope my son chooses to carry this forward with him. I know my husband and I will.

I love how in touch with myself I became being here.

I was really impressed with how well everything was run. Even the smallest details seemed to be taken care of. Really quite amazing.

Open Sky taught me how to identify my values and learn how to honor them.

The entire program offers a support built on authenticity; staff members care about the well-being of these kids.

What I valued most about Open Sky was the amazing kindness and tenderness of the entire staff, the connection developed between families, and the amazing journey it took me and my child on. The skills my child learned cannot be taught in college. It was an education about real life and how to live. I have deep gratitude and overwhelming respect for Open Sky.

I valued knowing that my son was safe and in the confident, trustworthy, well-trained care of his field guides and therapist. I valued the check-ins via letter writing and therapist weekly calls. I valued the parent support through Wellness Weekend and Monday night calls. I valued the space and time for parents to recover from trauma, and I valued that the kids got to go technology free, a rare gift these days.

What I valued most was how Open Sky helped our son and kept us engaged and informed. It really is his journey, and I am so grateful for the path he is now on.  I also have so much gratitude and respect for the guides.

The therapists and guides did a masterful job getting our son the help and support he needed. His growth is stunning and beautiful to see. The whole program—its structure and combination of yoga and meditation–was a powerful experience for our son and family.

Open Sky was the best experience I’ve ever had. It changed me into the best version of myself possible. It helped me build a wonderful relationship with my parents and I am forever grateful. Thank you for all you have done for me.

I am completely and totally impressed with Open Sky. We have experienced several other wilderness and treatment programs and Open Sky is the best by far. During our daughter’s time at Open Sky, she experienced tremendous growth, as did our entire family. Everyone there is loving, caring, and supportive. The meditation, yoga, and family components are difference makers. The staff is remarkable. Our daughter spoke highly of all of the guides and she will miss them. I was also impressed with how organized and efficiently the operation is run. Everything is done with a purpose, and no detail has been left unaddressed. Open Sky is making a difference in this world.

The website, the printed materials, the food, the support, the people and program itself—I felt supported every step of the way in a healthy, productive, challenging manner. I totally felt the commitment to our whole family, not just our child. I valued the parallel process and the people here. Every single person we worked with or who worked with our son was fantastic, engaged, incredibly competent, and totally committed to the well-being of our family.

The entire staff is amazing. Open Sky has truly found the formula for attracting people who are caring, loving, thoughtful, generous, positive, warm, welcoming, and professional.

This place changed my life. Thank you. I value the skills and opportunities I learned here and the opportunities it’s opened me up to have in the future.

I 100% believe in wilderness therapy and the power of being in nature to heal the mind and spirit. The staff at Open Sky are amazing. I am forever grateful for this program and what it did for our daughter.

Open Sky has been a blessing to my son. The commitment and attention to the family makes Open Sky unique and special. I would recommend Open Sky to anyone looking for wilderness therapy for their child.

When I talk to friends about my wilderness experience, they may not fully understand but they can tell that I am fulfilled. Before this experience, I didn’t know how to respond to my emotions. I wouldn’t take responsibility for my reactions. I now take accountability for myself and have learned skills to help with emotional awareness, connection, and relationships. Open Sky was not—and is not meant to be—a ‘one-stop shop.’ I’ve learned that this journey is a continuous process, and Open Sky helped prepare me to take an active and healthy role in it.

The Family Services staff are very knowledgeable and worked so well with our family culturally. I’m so surprised how they made our family feel so comfortable, talking about our culture, food, and language. Open Sky has given me a precious lifetime experience from being able to work with a group of dedicated experts who help change the lives of others. Open Sky has changed my life positively and my family as a whole.

I love you, Open Sky. You’ve made me realize my strength and my eagerness to live.

Thank you for helping our daughter find value and self-worth and helping us as a family communicate better.

Open Sky taught me how to communicate better and more importantly how to listen to my daughter’s needs. Our family’s communication has grown and because of this, I believe we will become stronger.

When I think of Open Sky, I am taken back to the place where I tore down the walls that I had spent so long building. I think of the guides and how their adventurous spirits helped me discover my own. Open Sky helped me rediscover my spirituality, as well as my thirst for adventure. I will always be grateful for this. I think of my time at Open Sky as the most grounding three months of my life and the beginning of almost two years free of addiction. I exercise regularly and ran cross-country for the first time as a senior in high school this year. I also have started teaching guitar lessons to younger students so that I might share my knowledge and passion with them.

It’s been almost two years since I graduated from Open Sky. I am now a junior in high school. I earned my academic letter for my 4.0 GPA and have taken a leadership role in a club at my school that spreads awareness on the importance of mental health. I continue to use the knowledge that I gained while at Open Sky in my everyday life. Next year I will graduate from high school and start college. I am very excited to begin the next chapter in my life. I could never be able to thank my therapist and my field guides enough for helping me through such a dark time. I am now able to live my life to its fullest potential.

We want to thank every member of the Open Sky team, not only for what you did for our daughter, but also for what you did for our entire family. We heard early on during our family support calls that Open Sky was transformative—and we were —but what we saw from our daughter during Family Quest and graduation was nothing less than a miracle. Your work is truly magical. From the moment we were reunited with our daughter until the time we said goodbyes to the team at Open Sky, we were touched by each member’s honesty, compassion, and caring for other human beings. We cannot say enough about how this time at Open Sky has impacted us all.

I was inspired by all my field guides. They made me feel safe and cared about. They were easy to connect with and understood me while also challenging me.

Open Sky saved my son’s life. Period.

When you have a child who goes to wilderness therapy, the parents and the family are so impacted. My guess is that many of the wilderness programs are focusing only on the child. At Open Sky, not only was our child attended to but our family was as well. The experience, for us, was tremendous. There are so many emotions that parents and the family experiences. It makes absolute sense that the they are attended to as well. I don’t think that’s happening anywhere else.

Prior to attending Open Sky, I was extremely sick physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually from years of alcohol and drug abuse. I could not hold down a job, pass college classes, or maintain healthy relationships with my friends and family. My life was in shambles and completely unmanageable. I spent three months at Open Sky backpacking, working through my addictions, and healing broken relationships. In the wilderness, I was able to find joy and serenity from within that I didn’t know was possible. I learned how to live within a community. Most importantly, I learned that I had the ability to exist sober and happy. Because Open Sky is a mindfulness- based program, I cultivated a strong meditation and yoga practice. This was integral for me. Today, my life looks totally different than it once did. I have maintained sobriety since arriving at Open Sky. I am a straight-A student, valued family member, and reliable friend. I work at two different treatment centers in Arizona, and I am a certified yoga instructor. In addition, I consistently venture into nature.  I truly believe that Open Sky Wilderness Therapy was the only way for me to heal. I am forever grateful to everyone who worked with me.

I value how there is no hiding from your true self and emotions at Open Sky. I value how much more I enjoy life and all that I have learned about myself. I also value the community, emotional safety, and feedback that I received.

Going through Open Sky was the best thing I have done. When I came to the program at the age of 23, I was at the peak of my second nervous breakdown. Today, I am a small business owner, financially independent, and more content and relaxed than I have ever been. I am a person who is learning what self-esteem feels like, a person who can reach out for support well before reaching his breaking point, a person who advocates for his needs, a person who has hope for the future. From the deepest parts of my heart, thank you.

Open Sky changed our son’s life. Although it has not been easy at times, his growth has been remarkable. We feel so strongly about Open Sky’s program and its success that we have supported and directed another family to Open Sky. The Open Sky team involved in our son’s process from start to finish was nothing short of amazing.

When I read about Open Sky, I thought, ‘This is it. This is what I’ve been searching for.’ And it was. Open Sky found my daughter. The guides were amazing and so impactful.

I valued the education we received to better parent our child. I valued the kindness and care given to me and my son.

Open Sky has changed my life forever. I will always cherish the time I spent here.

I made a leap of faith by sending my child to Open Sky at such a critical time. Open Sky exceeded my expectations. The emotional vocabulary and growth I see in my child borders on the remarkable. The encouragement I felt to examine my thoughts and beliefs continues to be tremendously valuable.

Since graduating Open Sky, I have fallen in love with living and see the bigger picture. I do not hide away in a world of self-destruction or try to shrink myself into nothingness. I have learned to be kind and gentle to myself. I have learned that I am courageous, brave, and resilient. I see a bold girl that made her way.

Open Sky saved my life. I don’t think that my life could possibly have taken a better road.

The Open Sky family systems approach and family programming distinguish this program from the others we researched. From our personal experience, I think that this is what made Open Sky so effective.

I love you, Open Sky. You have forever changed the person I am and will be. I am and will be forever grateful.

What Open Sky is doing is so real and so effective.

There is something about the wilderness. Something magical. Something pure. Thank you for sharing the wilderness with my son.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I had at Open Sky to catapult change in my life.  Now, I could not be living a more fulfilling life!

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think of Open Sky. It saved and changed my life.

I was constantly impressed by the quality, depth of knowledge, and kindness of each staff member, from admissions to guides to therapists to office staff. Everyone we dealt with was amazing!

I think of my time in wilderness as one of the most amazing and important experiences of my life so far.

I am grateful for Open Sky and for everyone who participated in the rebirth of our daughter. I am grateful for all who have walked before us and those who will come after. It’s been quite a journey.