With a week of walking in Wales having come to a close, www.trekEpic.org now begins to focus on August treks in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales in Northern England as well as custom international walks for young adult transition programs, educational consultants and their clients, and parents who need time for renewal and their own self-discovery!

With Kim Mlinarik as guide, these college students dedicated their spring break week to exploring  a new culture, the experience of walking across a country, and their future paths.  They moved through a mystical landscape, shifting back and forth from the metaphors of the trail to literally taking next steps!  Having reflected and evolved more than might be expected in such a short time, the participants on Offa’s Dyke Path trek now move forward, continuing to emerge as young adults in pursuit of college, careers, dreams and goals, but, most of all, authentic lives.

My educational consulting practice encompasses a wide range of options: Boarding Schools, Therapeutic Programs,  College Advising, Gap Year and Post-Graduate Year options, and support for students attending college or wanting to return to their studies.  In each instance, my focus is always on the process a student and their family experience, looking at a variety of creative options, opening a world of possibilities unique to each situation.

Over time I have developed services specific to the needs of students who have experienced emotional, behavioral, and/or learning challenges.  The overriding question I am constantly seeking to answer through these options is what level of support do students need after they have graduated from higher levels of supervision and structure.  This is to say:  what happens after after care for students who have had previous therapeutic program experiences?  Or, what are the components of a successful transition from high school to college, or when a young adult is relaunching after struggling in college?  Emerge has been a model for support for these students through academic management, mentoring, life coaching, and problem solving.  The creation of Epic Transitions, aka www.trekEpic.org , is another step in developing answers to these questions.  Each international walking trek is designed to help young adults regain or maintain their momentum as they reach for and better define their goals.  As I work to contribute to the lives of students and their families, I recognize the potential “Epic’s” core values can hold for us all:  Reflect, Evolve, Move Forward

This year’s epic trek through www.trekepic.org will see college age students and young adults in transition taking on the second half of Offas Dyke Path on the English and Welsh border.  As a student from last year’s trek so elegantly said, “dude, it’s goin’ be EPIC! 

March 23 – April 1 (10 days)

Students 18-24: Epic Transitions provides young adults and college students with an international trek experience in which they gain confidence and self-awareness as they discover and follow their own path. Epic’s mission includes offering financial assistance and travel grants to young adults and families who qualify.

Each trek day ends in a village with prearranged accommodations at English Style B&Bs, or at Hostels with group accommodations. Please inquire about our Summer 2012 three-week Epic Trek.

Emerge provides a bridge between therapeutic placement and the transition to independent living and college life.  Students experience the support needed to work toward success utilizing skills gained in previous therapeutic environments like wilderness programs and boarding schools, or young adult treatment centers.  While Emerge works with students in structuring each day, and creating touch points throughout the week, students do have to be able and prepared to live in either dorms or residential settings with regular peers.  Integrating into more normative environments both on campus and in the larger community is essential to “next steps” for students who have experienced emotional, behavioral, and/or learning challenges.