Working in the mountains of Colorado and deserts of Utah, Field Guides provide students with a stable, wilderness-based environment to grow & thrive.

The Open Sky approach transcends traditional wilderness therapy by emphasizing treatment for the whole family not just the adolescent or young adult through the application of evidence-based clinical modalities and innovative, well-researched holistic healing practices such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness. When a family partners with Open Sky, they embark on a rewarding adventure of self-discovery, and learn a range of strategies that promote lasting success.

Open Sky Wilderness Therapy inspires people to learn and live in a way that honors values and strengthens relationships. Field Guides at Open Sky work with adolescent and young adult students in a wilderness setting to provide therapeutically rich environments in which students grow and thrive.

Field Guides—What You'll Be Doing

Why work at Open Sky? See what the Field Guide team has to say about their experience.

A Typical Field Guide Week
Each week Open Sky students spend four or five days out on expedition, and the other days in at the outdoor basecamp. While on expedition, students hike through the canyon country of Utah (in winter) or the mountains and plateaus of Colorado (in summer).

Groups participate in yoga and meditation, maintain daily self-care practices, and engage in therapeutic groups. Field Guides and students alike utilize simple gear and methods, including bow-drilling to create fire. Guides facilitate and supervise throughout, while providing stable, compassionate role-modeling and leadership.

Cooking over an open fire is one of the many skills Field Staff will teach students.

Cooking over an open fire is one of many wilderness skills students learn at Open Sky. With creativity and patience, students and field staff work together to make some truly tasty and elaborate meals. Here, Senior Field Guide Janes shows off a batch of monkey bread made by Team Helios.

The skills obtained from the wilderness are unbounded. When we break free from our sources of comfort, we are able to discover who we truly are. If we seek to understand, the ability to learn is endless.

The Open Sky Field Guide Journey

Guides facilitate and supervise throughout, while providing stable, compassionate role-modeling and leadership.

Open Sky Field Guide Orientation
Orientation is a chance to learn about Open Sky, to develop the basic skills needed, and to demonstrate your strengths and personality. It is also a chance for applicants and Open Sky to mutually assess whether or not Open Sky is the right fit. Field Guides are responsible for the physical and emotional safety of each student. Guides are selected and trained with safety as the highest priority. Potential Guides attend a 10-day orientation prior to employment, which includes 7 days in the wilderness. An additional 2 days of medication administration training is usually necessary for those offered employment after orientation.

Orientation Topics
• Building rapport and emotional safety
• Safety and risk management
• Wilderness skills
• Student supervision
• Aegis de-escalation techniques
• Basic therapeutic concepts and skills
• Medication administration
• Weather-related challenges
• Communication systems
• Medical protocols

2024 Field Guide Orientation
Now accepting applications for the next orientation sessions:
March 4th–15th (rolling applications through February 19th)
April 29th–May 10th
There is an option for a shorter term seasonal position beginning in the spring with work through September.

A $1,000 hiring stipend and $300 travel stipend is provided after successful completion of the guide orientation and offer of employment.

Groups participate in yoga and meditation, maintain daily self-care practices, and engage in therapeutic groups.

Ongoing Guide Development
After the initial orientation, Guides receive ongoing development each week for the duration of their employment. Ongoing areas of development include risk and safety management, appropriate consequences, therapeutic program tools, small group leadership skills, emergency response, assertive communication, and medical protocols. Guides continuously receive feedback from their peers and are expected to set and pursue professional goals to further their own development.

We are called Open Sky because we believe in the potential of human beings. We believe we are all like the open sky: beautiful, infinite, and ever changing. No matter what may enter the sky, be it the sun or the stars, rain or clouds, everything passes. There is always a new day for infinite possibilities.

Work Schedule

Open Sky Wilderness Therapy inspires people to learn and live in a way that honors values and strengthens relationships.

Field Guide Work Schedule
Guides typically work 15 days on, 13 days off, and work 160-176 field days in a year’s time. Staff are encouraged to enjoy several shifts off per year, which allows for an abundance of time to travel and explore the surrounding vicinity, reconnect with family and friends, or go to more exotic locales throughout the world.

Summer Season Guide Option
Although most Guides must make a 1-year commitment, a handful of Guides are hired as seasonal support during the summer months. These Guides work 15 days on, 6 days off schedule for the duration of the summer. Typically, orientation for these positions will happen in May.

Base Camp

Open Sky maintains two base camps: one in southwestern Colorado and one in southeastern Utah — both offering a simple, outdoor living environment.

Open Sky maintains two base camps: one in southwestern Colorado and one in southeastern Utah — both offering a simple, outdoor living environment. There are no permanent cabins or structures for students or Guides. In the winter months, groups have teepees available for additional shelter. In the summer, groups sleep under large group tarps.

While at base camp, students meet with their Therapists, complete group chores, write letters, work on personal assignments, take backcountry showers, and occasionally participate in community projects such as trail maintenance, site clean-up, or seasonal preparations. There is also a sweat lodge at the Utah basecamp, and groups are able to periodically participate in sweats.

Field guides use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a model to mitigate risk in the field and to help students along in their therapeutic process. The pyramid provides a framework for empowering students to find success in a wilderness environment that they might not experience in other settings.

Perks, Rewards & Life in Durango, Colorado

Many staff live in Durango, which offers excellent outdoor recreation fun.

Pay and benefits include a $1,000 hiring stipend and $300 travel stipend after successful completion of guide orientation and offer of employment, a wage ranging from $244-$348/day, professional development funding (e.g. WFR/CPR re-certifications, yoga teacher trainings, etc.), paid trainings and pro-deal purchases with multiple outdoor gear and apparel companies, periodic bonuses and sick leave. Upon six months of full-time employment, you will also receive health, dental & vision insurance, and 401K retirement plan contributions after one year.

Transitioning to Durango
Field Guides will need to arrange their own room and board around the Four Corners region when they are not working in the field. Many staff live in Durango, which offers excellent outdoor recreation fun, including hiking, climbing, skiing, boating, and mountain biking as well as plenty of live music, good restaurants, natural food stores, health spas, and hot springs. Durango is also home to Fort Lewis College, a small, liberal arts college with approximately 4,000 students. For those looking for a quieter location, there is an abundance of small towns in close proximity to Durango and the field operating area.

Durango and the surrounding area enjoy an ideal four-season climate with moderate temperatures and over 300 days of sun per year. The expansive course area covers all facets of the regional landscape, from jagged alpine peaks with wildflower-filled meadows to red-rock canyons and cacti.

The Essentials

When a family partners with Open Sky, they embark on a rewarding adventure of self-discovery, and learn a range of strategies that promote lasting success.

At minimum, applicants must be at least 21 years of age, have a high school diploma, and hold a current WFR or agree to register and complete a WFR course within the first two months of hire. In the field, you must be able to exercise sound judgment while managing risk and supervising students in a wilderness setting, work as part of a treatment team to fulfill specific needs for each student, able to live and teach comfortably and confidently in a wilderness setting for 15 days at a time, provide effective instruction in therapeutic content and processes (including yoga and meditation), and role-model assertive communication and healthy relationships.

Preference is given to those who have demonstrated leadership in outdoor or wilderness settings, experience and/or educational background in therapeutic treatment, youth development, psychology, teaching, and/or other experiences with leadership or mindfulness practices with youth.

The Open Sky team includes Field Guides who are in recovery from addiction, have worked as classroom teachers, Peace Corps volunteers, Outward Bound and NOLS instructors, yoga teachers, mediation practitioners or gained experience from other wilderness therapy programs. Come join the family!

Your First Move & Connections

Check out the Open Sky Colorado course area.

To apply, fill out the online application. A complete application will include a cover letter, resume, three letters of recommendation, and copies of current CPR/first aid and WFR (or higher) certifications. Initial applications may be submitted without certs, but these must be obtained before working in the field.

Potential Guides must attend a 10-day orientation prior to employment. These orientations are by invitation only after completing a standard interview. Successful candidates who are offered employment after orientation generally begin working in the field within 3 weeks. Questions? Connect with Kip Swem.

Open Sky is the first nationally accredited wilderness therapy program through the Association for Experiential Education and the only mindfulness-based wilderness therapy company.

Kip Swem
Recruiter
Open Sky Wilderness Therapy
P.O. Box 2201
Durango, CO 81302
(509) 289-9254
recruiter@openskywilderness.com
OpenSkyWilderness.com
Careers.OpenSkyWilderness.com

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