Nearly half of Utah’s wilderness programs for ‘troubled teens’ closed in the last year. Here’s what’s happening.

One factor — negative attention driven by former clients — has been “hard for programs to combat,” said the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council.

(Jim Urquhart | The Salt Lake Tribune) Teens and guides from Aspiro hike across the desert in Southern Utah in 2008 during an adventure therapy program for troubled teens. Aspiro announced last April it was closing due to “recessionary and economic factors." It was the first of four Utah wilderness therapy programs to close in the last year.

Nearly half of Utah’s wilderness programs for ‘troubled teens’ closed in the last year. Here’s what’s happening.

One factor — negative attention driven by former clients — has been “hard for programs to combat,” said the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council.

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