Outdoor Youth Mentor

Field Guide

Full time | 8 days on/6 days off | $140-260/day | Benefits

With the wilderness as our catalyst, we reveal potential, inspire hope, and heal families. We believe it. We live it.

This is our mission statement. The field guide is the person who sees our students every day and directly facilitates the healing process. As a Field Guide, you will get to know our students and deliver the best program possible to them. This includes creating a safe, healthy, and supervised environment, mentoring, and working as a team. Teach students how to create their own bowdrill fire set and build the group's shelters from tarps, visit petroglyphs and ghost towns, peak mountains, and watch herds of mustang as the sun rises.

As our Field Guide, you will join one of our two shifts that continually swap back and forth, working 8 day shifts in the backcountry in a small group of at-risk teenagers with 2-3 other guides. We have two types of groups that you can work with:

• Our Red Cliff groups, which generally have 8 students each, live primitively and nomadically. Our students join an existing group when they are admitted and stay in the backcountry while they complete our program (length of stay is, on average, two and a half months). We do not have a set route or designated campsites; our groups practice low-impact principles as they continually hike and set up camp in our field of over 400 square miles.
• Our Three Peaks groups, which generally have 8 students each, live at a base and learn the skills for wilderness camping. The students join an existing group that stays in yurts and has access to a shower and bath house. These groups will do day hikes and other activities as the students learn to acclimate to their new environment. The goal is for students to learn the skills necessary to transition to our Red Cliff groups.

Our students struggle with a variety of mental, behavioral, and substance abuse disorders and may have failed to thrive in previous treatment settings. We are often the last hope to the families who turn to us to help their son or daughter. Working with families in crisis can be very difficult, but nothing is more rewarding than seeing pain and suffering slowly replaced by genuine change and healing through the shared experiences provided by wilderness.

Gain behavioral and mental health experience. Help heal families and save lives while sharing your passion for the outdoors. Become a part of the Red Cliff and Three Peak team.

• Field Guides work 8 consecutive days in the backcountry with struggling teenagers, usually living primitively and nomadically (i.e. hike almost daily, no base camp, no cell service, etc.)
• Ensure the supervision and safety of students
• Mentor students in primitive and outdoor skills
• Assist students in their curriculum work
• Share appreciation and knowledge of nature and the outdoors
• Lead students through experiential activities
• Facilitate group discussions
• Create a safe environment for students to process their emotions
• De-escalate and manage crises within group
• Provide support, direction, and feedback to coworkers during shifts
• Creatively, collaboratively, and safely address challenges and obstacles of the backcountry
• Carry essential gear such as 1st Aid kit, radio, and SPOT device
• Follow all company policies and procedures
• Follow all local, state, and federal rules, regulations, and laws
• Remember to have fun--we are working with kids!