Water Gap Canoeing for Grieving Teens
This seven-day course is a unique Outward Bound adventure specifically designed for teens coping with the death of a loved one.
This seven-day course is a unique Outward Bound adventure specifically designed for teens coping with the death of a loved one. You’ll be paddling on the beautiful Delaware River through the rugged and historic Delaware Water Gap.
By combining personal growth methodologies of Outward Bound with a simple support model that honors the griever, we deliver an intensely profound healing experience relevant to the lives of the people who are coping with the death of a loved one. Throughout the course, there are evening discussions to review personal and group challenges encountered during the day and in life. Topics include grieving, leadership, independent decision-making, responsibility, and teamwork.
NOTE: This course requires that students submit proof of "Up-to-Date" COVID-19 Vaccination status as defined by the CDC. For questions regarding this policy please see this page or call us at 866-467-7651.
UPCOMING COURSES
This course is not currently accepting enrollments. Please check back frequently, as this is subject to change.
APPLY NOW
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APPLY NOW – Almost Full
This means there are three or fewer currently available spots left on a course. To secure your spot click Apply Now to begin an application!
JOIN WAITLIST
Once a course has reached capacity, three waitlist positions become available. To join a course’s waitlist, click “Join Waitlist” to begin the application process. A $500 deposit is required. This $500 deposit includes a $150 non-refundable application fee and a $350 tuition payment. The $350 tuition payment is refundable only if you cancel your waitlist application or if an open position does not become available. If a position does become available, the applicant will be applied to the open position and the Application and Cancellation Policies of the Regional Outward Bound School will be followed, including forfeiture of the $500 deposit if you cancel 90 days or less prior to the course start date.
Waitlist applicants are encouraged to complete all required admissions documents while awaiting an open position. Positions may become available up to two weeks prior to the course start date. Applicants may only apply to one course. We recommend applying to a course with open positions instead of a course that is accepting waitlist applications. If you have questions, please call 866-467-7651 to speak with one of our Admissions Advisors.
CALL TO APPLY
This means a course is very close to its start date. Although it is unlikely to secure a spot this late, you can call the National Admissions office at 866-467-7651 to discuss your options.
COURSE IS FULL
When a course has reached maximum capacity, meaning all spots and the three waitlist spots are occupied, a course will read “Course Is Full.” This means applications are no longer being accepted.
CLOSED
As a course nears its start date, the availability status may read “Closed.” In this event, a course roster has been finalized and applications are no longer being accepted or processed.
Course price reflects reduced tuition made possible through the generous support of our donors and the Leadership support of The New York Life Foundation. Additional need based scholarships are available. To learn more about additional need based scholarships, click here.
Grieving Teens expeditions are designed to help students build confidence and resiliency, acquire coping skills and create a network of ongoing of support. The grief work that is woven into the curriculum helps young people share in a relevant healing experience with real-world outcomes. And in a time and space set aside just for them, grieving teens realize they are not alone.
- Build core skills: Instructors provide students with hands-on training on expedition and personal skills. As they learn to live and travel together, students create an inclusive, supportive crew, sharing through discussion circles and grief rituals.
- Practice Outward Bound values: Students learn to incorporate Outward Bound values into everyday life by pushing their own limits and seeking challenge as an opportunity for personal growth and healing.
- Process and reflect: Journaling, one-on-one conferences and discussion circles help students understand how Outward Bound successes might translate to coping skills back home.
- Demonstrate mastery: As the course nears the end, students tackle an expedition challenge, and pause to share and honor their losses.
- What you’ll learn: Students return home with healthy support mechanisms and a positive network of peers they can count on in the future.
Throughout the expedition, students build, practice, and reflect on skills, conduct service projects and also tackle at least one challenge element - rock climbing, a peak ascent or a big whitewater day - that pushes them to find undiscovered strength. Grief-centered introspection activities such as journaling, one-on-one conferences and nightly small and large-group discussion circles help students understand how their experiences thus far might translate to coping skills back home. During the expedition's final phase, students experience a rare gift and highlight of the course: time to think and reflect on the Solo. With food, equipment and the skills they’ve learned, individuals spend time alone at an assigned campsite – with Instructors periodically checking in on them. As the course nears the end, students participate in a Dedication Ascent. At the top of the peak, the group gathers and each student shares who they have chosen to honor. During the final debrief, students identify continued, healthy support mechanisms and a positive network of peers they can count on in the future.
Course price reflects reduced tuition made possible through the generous support of our donors and the Leadership support of The New York Life Foundation. Additional need based scholarships are available. To learn more about additional need based scholarships, click here.
In the Delaware Water Gap, each section of the river is different and has its own personality. If you want secluded, wide water with lots of wildlife, the stretch that flows through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area from Matamoras to Kittatinny Point offers it all. In addition to learning valuable paddling techniques in a tandem canoe, you and your fellow crew members will learn basic outdoor skills like Leave-No-Trace Ethics, outdoor living, and backcountry travel in order to successfully live, work, eat and play together. This process will hone your communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills. During the expedition, you will learn to use technical equipment, tie knots, paddle and camp, all while Instructors provide expert supervision.
On your first or final day of course, you will begin or end your expedition at our Wissahickon Valley High Ropes Course. Challenge yourself with the support of your teammates on one of our thrilling high ropes elements in the heart of the “Philadelphia Wilderness.”
The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area encompasses 67,000 acres of mountain ridge, forest and floodplain on both sides of the Delaware River in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From the southern end of the park, you can view the S-shaped chasm of the Delaware Water Gap, where the river cuts a twisting path through 1,400-foot Kittatinny Ridge. Within the river watershed, you'll discover steep wooded-and-rock slopes, bountiful rhododendron, dark hallows, tinsel-like ravines and tumbling waterfalls.
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Getting Started
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $300 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.