Devan Glissmeyer, Ph.D.
Partner and Primary Therapist
Second Nature Print

15 years ago Second Nature began with a vision of providing an intense opportunity for growth to adolescents and families who felt lost and were seeking to reconnect.  While working as a field therapist prior to Second Nature’s creation, I realized that a sophisticated level of therapy could be integrated into the traditional wilderness interventions of the day.  Cheryl Kehl and I (and 2 other founders, no longer with Second Nature) began the company focused on bringing balance to the power of the wilderness experience while creating a clinical experience that would honor children struggling with deep and complicated issues.

We realized that we needed uniquely qualified professionals who would provide cutting edge therapy while bringing stability to struggling families who were, at this particular time, in an existential crisis.  We shifted from a historic primary focus on Outward Bound type programming and quickly began to find a balance between powerful wilderness interventions and therapies directed by seasoned professionals that lead the entire treatment process.   Gone were the days when therapist and field staff would argue about the importance of long hikes versus group therapy or about meeting the needs of a student on the spectrum and the need to show flexibility about social expectations and physical requirements.   We saw students and families respond to structural family therapy, cognitive interventions, emotionally focused and psychodynamic processes.  We were affirmed by the effectiveness of this new balance.  We continued to provide 24-7 customer service to our families and referral sources.  The response was overwhelming (a great problem to have).

When Brad joined us 7 months later, he brought insight and challenges that pushed us to improve and develop.  We pioneered a number of key facets of our industry that are standards in many programs today, including family integration during the wilderness experience (regular family therapy conference calls & mid program field visits by parents), professional positions and wages for field instructors, aftercare preparation, flexible lengths of stay and individualized treatment planning according to client need (not simply based on program structure), parent support (that included live regional support groups and twice weekly live webinars) and professional support (hosting and running regional conferences for professionals).  We developed the best clinical team in the country and pioneered the expectation that this field would be a haven for the best professionals, not simply a training place for graduate students or young professionals or others needing a position for the summer.  The other co-founders (Dan McDougal at Blue Ridge and North Carolina; Matt Hoag and Rick Heizer at Entrada and J Huffine at Cascades) have been a foundational part of my growth and Second Nature’s evolution.  Second Nature would not be who we are without them and their continual influence.  Eventually other programs adopted many of our principles and practices.  We are honored by the programs who understood the importance of these principles and modeled their programs after us but more importantly, families and kids get far better treatment results .  (Frankly, we have also learned and evolved a few of our systems by some of their developments.)

As I reflect on 15 years of Second Nature and the opportunities this experience has provided me, I am nearly overwhelmed.  Seeing adolescents come home emotionally and reconnect with their families has been a gift and a challenge that I wouldn’t trade.  After 15 years in the field, on the front lines with students and their families, I can’t imagine doing anything else.  During January I am tempted with retirement, but as I see my boys struggling through a colder process and gaining competence … then confidence, I am clear that I am in the right place doing one of the best things I can.  I love this work and this process.  After 23 years of marriage and still doing “check-ins” around the dinner table with my four children, this work has affected me (and my family) profoundly.  I am grateful to be a part of a team that has helped change many many lives over the years, including the many team members that have moved on to other opportunities and even started their own programs.
Second Nature’s roots run deep.  I am thankful to have been able to have planted one of the early seeds and proud to see the growth that has emerged.  Even through some tough “spring pruning” at times, our Second Nature family continues to balance deep roots with natural growth.