Your family will speak with your therapist weekly. Part of that conversation is about you and your progress, while other parts of that conversation surround how they can best support you.The therapist is involved in helping them understand where you are coming from, and processing with them about whatever comes up. Your family will also engage with you by writing letters back and forth each week.

Parents also have their own work to do: they will have an additional call with a family systems therapist that is not even about you! It’s about them and how they can grow to understand the role they play in your family. These conversations usually lead parents to better support students on the other side of wilderness. Parents also attend a multi-family workshop with their family therapists, which helps them to understand your experience and to better appreciate all the work students do in this process.