Our property encompasses 130 acres of forestland adjoining thousands of miles of national forest. The treatment center is built on a ranch that includes administrative offices, inpatient residential facilities, high and low ropes course, basketball and tennis courts, a woodshop and horse stables. San Cristobal also has access to its own private ski resort. Located within driving distance of our main facility, this parcel of land includes over 4.5 square miles of ski trails, hiking trails, streams and rivers, mountain bike trails and much more. As a result, clients have access to their own private mountain to ski, snowboard, hike, fly fish and ride.
Staff housing is located in the tiny village of San Cristobal just a few miles from the main lodge property. This allows a majority of our staff to be on-call in the event of a crisis situation. Our ability to react quickly and intervene in these types of situations helps to increase retention rates and successful completion of treatment.
Understanding the Healing Power of the Wilderness
Change does not happen when you are comfortable. If you are comfortable, there is no reason to change. For the addict especially, the decision to change how one goes through life is not an easy change to make. It takes a leap of faith, an act of courage and a strong constitution. After all, even though life may have been utter hell, the addict knows how to survive it. They know the pitfalls and struggles, and even though it may be painful, it is known and all humans tend to stay in the known.
Making the decision to get clean means stepping away from the known and trusting that you will be able to survive the journey. This is one of the reasons why the wilderness can be a place of profound healing. It is the epitome of the unknown. Especially since most of our clients have no frame of reference on how to survive in this new landscape. This is true even for the addict who has done some camping or backpacking before coming to San Cristobal. We take them to the desert, an environment most people have never spent any significant time in. It is a place where light pollution and ambient noises from civilization are close to non-existent. We then remove all of the trappings of normal survival: lighters, spoons, running water, toilets, etc. and thrust them into a primitive place. This creates a moment of panic for our clients as they adjust to the new realities of their world. They have to learn to trust their counselors, initiated men, with their survival and safety. This speaks to the 2nd step of Recovery “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity”. The young addict has to learn to trust another person again so that they can learn how to survive and how to adjust to the new boundaries of their existence. This is a huge step forward for them. From there, we can proceed through the other steps of recovery.
In short, the wilderness is a place where incredible life changes can occur. Because of the unfamiliar surroundings, addicts are able to look at things differently. Through struggle and trials, they learn to trust and depend on the other members of their group. And because of the stillness offered by nature, they start to learn to quiet the voices in their own heads and be at peace. This is when true recovery can begin.