The Hero

Logan River Academy offers the opportunity to both students and their families to begin the hero’s journey. This journey will be challenging, sometimes overwhelming, rewarding, as well as worth it if it is able to be completed. Many young people begin or start a variety of activities, clubs, and programs, but very few have acquired the skill set, fortitude, and motivation to finish what they started. In order to better prepare for a stronger commitment to finishing what has been started within Logan River Academy, let’s review the phases of the hero’s journey.

The initial steps are listed below.

Separation:

The Call to Adventure

The hero begins in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown. This is any example of when behaviors escalate to the point where the seeking out of a higher level of care is presented.

Refusal of the Call

Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances. This includes many empty promises and commitments that this time things were really change, however this has been found to be very unaffected as this would discontinue a continuation of the same actions, attitudes, and beliefs.

Supernatural Aid

Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his guide and magical helper appear or become known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid him later in his quest. This is the initial stages of the therapeutic relationship established during weekly individual, family, and group therapeutic sessions.

Crossing the Threshold

This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known. This phase is very critical and the need for clear cut rules, limits and boundaries within the family dynamic, as well as within Logan River Academy are essential as consistency now becomes the norm.

Belly of the Whale

The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis. As consistent rules and expectations are established in a new level of normalcy and consistency are expected the process of behavioral change begins and irrational thoughts, negative behaviors, unhealthy peer association and other unwanted actions, attitudes and beliefs start to be limited.

Initiation:

The Road of Trials

The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.  The phase system within Logan River Academy is a series of tests and trials in skill building that must be consistently implemented and supported in order for the transformation to truly begin. Oftentimes, the lessons are learned during these trials, short setbacks and outright failures.

The Meeting with the Goddess

This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.  Within the placement of Logan River Academy family therapy is a critical and important aspect for the person to experience the love that has the power and significance to overcome any roadblock or struggle through effective and appropriate limit setting in a healthy way by the family.

 Woman as Temptress

In this step, the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.  Oftentimes addictive attitudes and behaviors act as a distraction or the temptation that limits the hero’s ability to successfully move forward and complete the journey. This may be electronic addiction, substance dependency or abuse, pornography, eating disorders, gambling, and other addictive actions, attitudes and beliefs.

Atonement with the Father

In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving into this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.  Within Logan River Academy once again, the need for strong and healthy families to encourage the hero to set and maintain healthy and appropriate limits and boundaries, as well as consequence unhealthy, inappropriate, illegal, and unwanted actions, attitudes and beliefs.

Apotheosis

When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return. As the hero continues the process of change, there is a need for acceptance, forgiveness, and the ability to move forward by being receptive to the thoughts feelings and beliefs of others within their lives.

 The Ultimate Boon

The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All of the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the Holy Grail. Logan River Academy feels that program completion is a vital part of the process of change within our student’s lives and treatment. The ability to achieve success, to be challenged, to learn the coping skills and strategies to overcome any obstacle or behavior is a strong foundational piece of long-term behavioral and emotional change.

 Return

Refusal of the Return

Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man. Many students experience success, a renewed sense of self-worth and optimism as they learn to be successful within the rules and structure of Logan River Academy. However, many students as they return to their home or ordinary world are faced with many of the same challenges, including negative or unhealthy home environments, negative peer association, challenging or unsupported neighborhoods, academic environments that are less conducive to a supportive and successful academic situation, addiction or other unhealthy situations and many other scenarios that challenge the heroes newly found resolve to be successful.

Rescue from Without

Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.  Logan River Academy believes that a well thought out transitional plan is vital to the long-term success of our graduating heroes, which includes trial home placement, continued therapeutic interventions, seeking out community resources, as well as the continued setting and maintaining of healthy and appropriate limits and boundaries within the family and community situations.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world.  Graduating students from Logan River Academy are given the opportunity to take the knowledge and skills that have been acquired during the enrollment process, and then apply this newly acquired knowledge and wisdom and integrate that wisdom back into their day-to-day life.

Master of Two Worlds

This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds. Logan River Academy has the goal and expectation of long-term success from their graduating students. This is a lifelong journey, that requires continued effort, resolve, and the fortitude to continue the process of setting and maintaining healthy and appropriate limits and boundaries, addressing any unwanted or addictive behaviors within the family dynamic, as well as a continued mindset and desire to continue the process of continuing down the hero’s journey.

Freedom to Live:  Logan River Academy believes that as we challenge unhealthy and irrational thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, and truly strive to fully engage in healthy and appropriate lifestyles, we have the freedom to live our lives and have a successful and enjoyable experience as we seek out healthy and appropriate relationships and engage in healthy and appropriate experiences.


Travis Christensen, CMHC