Frequently Asked Questions

Blue Ridge Treks is a privately owned, adventure-based therapy program in Asheville designed to serve youth and families of Western North Carolina.  It is a non-residential program that offers therapy, mentoring, and outdoor programming for its community.

Blue Ridge Treks customizes programming for youth, families and other agencies in the Asheville area.  They provide individual and family therapy services, mentoring services, as well as outdoor programming.  Outdoor programming is largely funded by public grants and contracts.  Blue Ridge Treks also offers professional staff development trainings, including the option of CEU’s for Social Workers.

Blue Ridge Treks serves court-involved youth through the Buncombe County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC).  Blue Ridge Treks also serves youth in foster care through a Division of Health and Human Services contract.  For all grant and contract funded programming, Blue Ridge Treks partners with FIRST Family Resource Center to benefit from their internal structure and knowledge-base around grants and contracts.  To learn more about FIRST, please check out our “Partners” page!

Therapy and mentoring services are offered by both Alex and Joe.  They both offer a comfortable, relationship-centered approach to working with youth and families.  Please see their staff pages to learn more.  Outdoor programming focuses on the development of self-leadership and group-leadership by working on skill development, decision-making, effective communication, and problem-solving.

Alex and Joe use some of the following activities in their practice: hiking, kayaking, canoeing, whitewater rafting, bouldering, climbing, zip-lining, biking, high and low ropes courses and volunteering.

Due to the wide range of services offered, cost is varied.  We accept insurance for therapy services (office, home and community-based) and we also offer a sliding scale for therapy, mentoring and group activities.  Our grant and contracted activities are free to participants.  Please contact us with any specific questions about cost.

Our therapy and mentoring services are designed for participants aged 7 and older.  Our outdoor, group programming is designed for participants aged 12 and older.

Our program is heavily focused on serving the greater Western North Carolina region, with our trip-locations largely matching this focus.  Trips generally occur within 30 minutes of Asheville, but trip time may be longer for certain activities.  Blue Ridge Treks has led programming in North Carolina and Georgia.

Both Alex and Joe are master’s level licensed therapists (LCSW’s) and Wilderness First Responders.  Both have passed a background check and screening process.  See our staff page to learn more.

Blue Ridge Treks prides itself in having a small staff to participant ratio.  The typical group size is 2 staff to 8 participants.

Some of our programs are co-ed.

All participants will receive a “What to Bring” form upon admission to Blue Ridge Treks programs.  Participants are responsible for wearing appropriate clothing on trips.  Backpacks, water bottles, and rain jackets are all provided by Blue Ridge Treks.