Justin works with boys ages 14-17 in Trails Carolina Echo Group. Students in Echo group are inward acting and often struggle with social skills, isolation, tech addiction, anxiety and depression.
Many of Justin's students have experienced difficulties relating to others in their families, and in school. Often his students have withdrawn and turned inward and many have begun to utilize technology and video games as a coping mechanism to fulfill the need for personal connection.
Justin has a deep interest in working with students who are socially isolating, or facing tech addiction, as well as those who come to Trails with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. "Finding ways to help students get their needs for connection met through healthy interactions with family and friends is a key component of the work we do in Echo Group." says Messinger.
Justin first began working with boys on the autism spectrum when he was an undergraduate and volunteered for a non-profit organization called HEAL - Healing Every Austic Life. As a volunteer for this program Justin participated in activities with boys on the autism spectrum such as surfing and bowling in a mentorship role. Through this work he first developed his appreciation for the unique needs of these students. Building the skills needed for relating to others in their lives is a focus of Justin's approach to wilderness therapy at Trails Carolina.
Click here to read Justin's Blog about Attachment and Adoption
Trails Carolina brings children back to nature in a wilderness therapy setting and address their problematic behaviors far from the chaos and distractions of modern life. Here they can focus on themselves and begin the healing process.
