Daily Life

Daily life on our campus emphasizes the importance of being engaged throughout the day and of being a contributing and responsible member of our campus community.

Students take turns cooking and doing dishes for their living groups (6 to 12 students), work together to keep their tent cabins clean and cozy and are responsible for their own laundry. Working hard, sleeping well, and following a daily routine allows for increased health and strengthening of their ability to cope with the various issues that have brought them to Santiam Crossing.

During a typical week, students are on the Santiam Crossing campus Monday through Thursday morning. This time is spent doing classroom work, recreation, individual and group therapy, group projects, camp chores, homework, and preparation for the weekend expedition or service project. Students leave the campus Thursday evening for their wilderness adventure activity returning on Sunday evening.

While on campus, students will begin the day at 8 a.m. with breakfast in their campsite, followed by group therapy, individual therapy, or recreation. There are three school blocks each day, one in the late morning and two in the late afternoon with a break for lunch and other activities between the blocks. Students prepare dinner in their campsites each evening, followed by some personal time. Group therapy occurs in the late evenings, followed by bedtime at 10 p.m.

The schedule varies on the weekends, depending upon the activity. Two to three weekends a month students participate in high adventure activities such as climbing, river rafting, horsemanship or mountain biking. One weekend contains a service learning component. The third weekend of each month students remain on campus to take part in family weekend activities designed to foster family reunification.

Supervision
Our staff to student ratio is 1:6 during the day. In the evenings, each cabin is assigned counselors that sleep in the cabins with the students at night. During the adventure weekends and adventure weeks, counselors also overnight with students, and for certain high adventure activities like rock climbing the ratio will be 1:3.

Guidelines for Discipline
Discipline is utilized as part of the treatment process and not as a form of punishment. It is administered on an individual basis consistent with the student’s inappropriate behavior and individual program objectives. Discipline methods and techniques shall respect the rights of each student. Discipline is an adult responsibility and shall not be administered by students.

Nursing Services
Our campus nurse checks-in with students on a weekly basis and manages all of the students’ routine medical non-emergency needs. Your child’s medical and dental needs, including orthodontia, eye care, dental exams, physicals, and any other medical needs can be accommodated through local health professionals. We work closely with physicians and dentists in the immediate area to ensure that your child’s needs are met. Procedures are in place to arrange for appropriate care in the event of a medical, dental or psychiatric emergency.

Medication Management
Santiam Crossing works with a local psychiatrist who handles medication management. Our counseling staff handles medication distribution. All medications are held by appropriate treatment staff and self-administered under staff supervision.

If your child is not currently on medication and you are interested in exploring the possibility, we can arrange for a consultation with the psychiatrist. Medication management is not covered in the tuition, and financial arrangements must be made directly between you and the doctor’s billing department.