The Interpreted Rock

By Stephen C. Schultz My 16-year-old daughter has a natural talent and skill for volleyball . She is a great athlete, period. But she has a passion and drive for the sport that go beyond her years. She aspires to play in college and has demonstrated the maturity, motivation, and focus needed to get there. I recently attended a parent meeting sponsored by the school district about the college recruiting process—how to navigate not only the rules but also the politics. It was eye-opening, to say the least. The presenter explained that college coaches rely heavily on “ reliable third-party endorsements ” to determine whether they should even consider an athlete. When athletic scholarships are awarded, the coach is essentially "purchasing" that athlete. The estimated cost of a single full-ride athletic scholarship is somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000. Many parents and athletes mistakenly believe that a scholarship is simply an incentive to attend a particular school. I...

  By Stephen C. Schultz Over the last month, I have been privy to some conversations with parents who are in the unfortunate position of having their sons in a therapeutic residential setting . No parent should have to go through this experience. However, in today’s society, it is more needed and more frequent than most people are aware. These conversations were heartfelt and emotional. In fact, some of the emotions felt by the parents were reaching a heightened and heated level. It started me thinking—which isn’t always a good thing! If I can share an example I had with my family, it may serve to provide some structure for how I express my thoughts around this situation. It also provides some principles that may apply throughout our lives. My family and I were at Disneyland , and we waited in that eternal line for the roller coaster, “Screamin’.” My youngest daughter, Emma, and I happened to be placed in the front seat. She had a sparkle in her eye and a grin on her face, while I ...

Guest Blogger: Steven DeMille, LCMHC, PhD Executive Director – RedCliff Ascent Wilderness therapy provides many opportunities for teens and young adults to have life-altering experiences. With an increase in international students attending school in the U.S., RedCliff Ascent has seen a rise in international enrollments over the years. These students come to RedCliff because they are struggling in their current academic settings or suffering from emotional concerns that are becoming unmanageable.   Below are some helpful points associated with international students and RedCliff Ascent : Wilderness therapy has a strong history as a character-building intervention, which supports academic success. Emotional distress is a major contributor to academic failure. Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) originally emerged as an intervention for struggling university students. It assists in the development of students' emotional growth, resilience, and self-discipline. Wilderness ther...

By Stephen C. Schultz “Making the decision to send him to the other side of the world to an American desert was not an easy decision; we now know that it was the best decision we have ever made in our lives.” Sandra - UK Parent Discovery Academy, as well as our sister programs, have seen an increase in foreign students needing the very specialized educational opportunities we offer. Over the last few years, we have assisted students from the UK, Australia, Singapore, Israel, Brazil, Russia, France, Netherlands, Dubai, Guatemala, China and Spain to name a few.   The students we work with struggle with an emotional concern of some kind and find themselves in the culturally embarrassing position of failing or dropping out of school. Often these students struggle with depression, anxiety, eating disorders or substance use. Concerns with technology use and abuse of “Gaming” and "Pornography" have increased over the last few years. ...

By Stephen C. Schultz   The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ~ Edmund Burke I don’t frequent bars very often…mainly because I don’t drink. However, last week was an exception. Not the drinking part, but the being in a bar part. Corned beef sliders, a coke and the World Series baseball game. It doesn’t get much better than that! The guy sitting next to me on my left started a conversation with me about his car and how upset he was that someone backed into him and scraped the bumper. He then started a dialogue about the quality of cars now as opposed to thirty years ago. The conversation was simply a one way conversation with rants about insurance, auto body repair shops and his disappointment that he wasn’t headed to Hawaii this year…since every year at this time he is in Hawaii. I kept trying to turn back to the gentleman on my right, since he was the reason I was there in the first place. I was hosting a producer, Dan Frankenber...