Specialized Wilderness Therapy for Teen Boys Struggling with Sexual Behavior Issues
Help your son overcome problematic sexual behaviors, pornography use, and trauma in a structured, clinically guided wilderness program.
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Specialized Wilderness Therapy for Teen Boys — Facing Sexual Behavior Issues
Help your son overcome problematic sexual behaviors, pornography use, and trauma in a structured, clinically guided wilderness program.
Restore trust. Rebuild connection. Start healing.
Confidential help and a way forward for your family.
Navigation to Healthy Relationships
Call (800) 584-4629
A Highly Specialized Wilderness Treatment Program
STAR Guides is a specialized treatment program for adolescent males ages 13–17 struggling with compulsive sexual behaviors, problematic technology use, and related trauma.
Unlike programs that treat a broad range of behavioral or substance issues, STAR Guides focuses on one thing: the assessment and treatment of compulsive sexual and relational behaviors in teen boys. We provide intensive therapeutic support for your son and active guidance for you throughout treatment — so our clinical team can reach the trauma, attachment challenges, and emotional-regulation struggles that so often drive these behaviors.
Ages 13–17 · Licensed & Joint Commission–accredited · Southern Utah
Alumni 2026 Event
How the STAR Guides Program Works
STAR Guides follows a structured, clinically supervised wilderness treatment model designed specifically for adolescent boys ages 13–17 with compulsive sexual behaviors and related trauma.
1. Comprehensive Assessment & Intake
Your son begins with a thorough diagnostic assessment conducted by licensed clinicians to evaluate compulsive sexual behaviors, trauma history, emotional functioning, and family dynamics
2. Individualized Treatment Planning
Based on the assessment findings, the clinical team builds a personalized treatment plan focused on accountability, emotional regulation, trauma resolution, and healthy relational development.
3. Wilderness-Based Therapeutic Programming
Your son engages in a wilderness-based therapeutic environment that removes access to technology and everyday distractions. This setting promotes self-reflection, responsibility, and meaningful behavioral change while supporting therapeutic engagement.
4. Ongoing Clinical Oversight & Therapy
Licensed therapists provide continuous clinical oversight throughout the program. Treatment is trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate, and focused on the underlying drivers of compulsive sexual behavior.
5. Family Involvement & Parent Support
You and your family are actively involved through structured communication, coaching, and guidance. Family participation is essential to long-term success and sustainable change
6. Transition Planning & Continued Support
As treatment progresses, STAR Guides helps your family plan next steps — including reintegration, continued therapy, and ongoing accountability strategies.
Proven Outcomes
Real, Measured, and Lasting Change
STAR Guides tracks treatment outcomes using standardized clinical measures, therapist observations, and parent-reported feedback — during treatment and for a full year after.
STAR Guides Wilderness Outcome Research (Y‑OQ)
80–100 Outpatient
47–79 Community
normal 1–46
Y‑OQ behavioral-dysfunction score — lower is better. Boys enter in the inpatient range and drop to community-normal by graduation.
On the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (Y‑OQ), boys enter STAR Guides at an average score of 98 — deep in the inpatient range of behavioral dysfunction — and fall to 24 by graduation, within the community-normal range. At 3, 6, and 12 months after graduation, average scores hold steady in the low 50s (51, 50, and 52), showing improvement that is sustained a full year beyond the program. On this measure, a change of 13 points is considered clinically meaningful; the average student improves by roughly 74.
Student Growth
Students report feeling like changed people, with meaningfully improved relationships with their families.
Parent Satisfaction
Parents report feeling heard, understood, and respected by their therapists and program personnel.
Program Effectiveness
Parents believe the program curriculum is genuinely helpful for their child's challenges.
What Students & Parents Say
From exit evaluations of nearly 700 participants · 2013–2025
These are program-level averages used internally to guide treatment planning and program development; they are not a prediction of any individual result. Individual outcomes vary based on clinical needs, treatment engagement, and post-program support. STAR Guides does not guarantee specific results and emphasizes individualized treatment planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions parents ask us most
Q: Who is STAR Guides for?
STAR Guides is a specialized wilderness therapy program for adolescent boys ages 13–17 struggling with compulsive sexual behaviors, problematic pornography and technology use, and related trauma. Unlike broad-focus programs, we treat this specifically — so the clinical work goes deeper.
Is STAR Guides licensed and accredited?
Yes. STAR Guides is licensed by the Utah Department of Human Services and accredited by the Joint Commission, and every clinician is a Utah-licensed psychologist or psychotherapist. We operate under a Bureau of Land Management permit and follow strict state and federal safety regulations.
Is the program safe?
Safety is built into how we operate. Groups are small — 6 to 8 students at a 1-to-3 staff ratio with a minimum of three field instructors — and every student gets a medical assessment on arrival plus checkups every two weeks, with season-appropriate gear and licensed clinical oversight throughout.
How much does it cost, and does insurance help?
Tuition depends on length of stay (typically 120–150 days) and your son’s clinical needs, so we provide a personalized breakdown during a free consultation. Many families offset the cost with out-of-network mental health benefits — and we’ll verify your insurance for free before you enroll.
Can wilderness therapy really help with pornography or compulsive sexual behavior?
Yes — it’s exactly what we’re built for. The unplugged wilderness setting removes the technology and triggers that fuel these behaviors, while specialized, licensed therapists help your son understand and change the patterns underneath them, free of shame or judgment.
Will I still be able to stay connected with my son?
Yes. You’ll communicate through letters uploaded to a secure parent portal, take part in weekly parent therapy sessions, receive twice-weekly photos and progress updates, and join family therapy and an overnight field experience at graduation. Parent involvement is essential to lasting change.
Have another question? See our full FAQ or call (800) 584-4629 — we’re happy to talk it through.
Cost & Coverage
Insurance We Work With
STAR Guides works with most major insurance providers and offers a free verification of benefits. Many families use out-of-network mental health benefits to offset the cost of treatment — we’ll review your policy and explain what may be reimbursable before you enroll.
Coverage varies by plan and provider. Displaying a carrier does not guarantee in-network status; most STAR Guides benefits are reimbursed out-of-network.
Our Founders & Clinical Leadership
Meet the Team Behind STAR Guides
Licensed clinicians who built the program — and lead your son’s care every day.
Matt Bulkley, LCSW
Psychotherapist · Executive Director & Co-Founder
25+ years treating adolescent males; author of the Breaking Free series; featured on ABC News Nightline.
Full Profile
Daniel M. Sanderson, Ph.D., CSAT
Clinical Psychologist · Clinical Director & Co-Founder
Internationally recognized clinical psychologist, 30+ years; pioneer of wilderness treatment for sexual and technology addiction.
Full Profile
Kena Frey, LCSW
Psychotherapist · Co-Founder
National expert in trauma and problematic sexual behavior in young women; the team's female-clinician perspective.
Full ProfileOur Field Team
The guides who are with your son every day. Our field instructors live alongside students in the wilderness — providing round-the-clock supervision, mentorship, and support — and every instructor is trained and supervised by our clinical and field-management team.
OUR SPECIALTY
Most programs for struggling teens and young adults try to treat a little of everything. STAR Guides doesn’t. We specialize in one area and go deep — helping boys and young men work through compulsive sexual behaviors, problematic pornography and technology use, and the trauma underneath them.
That focus is what sets us apart. Away from screens and everyday triggers, in the quiet of the Southern Utah wilderness, each student works with licensed therapists who specialize in exactly these issues — in a setting designed to feel safe, supportive, and completely free of shame. Because problems this personal don’t heal through fear or embarrassment. They heal through understanding, accountability, and connection.
Find the program built for your family:
Upcoming Alumni Events
Who We Help
We Specialize in the Issues Other Programs Avoid
If your son is struggling with problematic sexual behaviors and the trauma beneath them, you’re in the right place — and you’re not alone. STAR Guides was built specifically for these issues, including teens other programs couldn’t reach.
Pornography & Cyber-Sexual Addiction
Pornography dependence, cyber-sexual addiction, sexting, and online hook-ups.
Learn more →Compulsive Sexual Behavior & Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality, compulsive masturbation, reckless sexual behavior, promiscuity, voyeurism, and fetishes.
Learn more →Sex Addiction
Sexual addiction and the compulsive patterns and triggers that drive it.
Learn more →Sibling & Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse, sibling sexual abuse, sexual reactivity, and sexual boundary issues.
Learn more →Sexual, Developmental & Attachment Trauma
Sexual trauma, developmental and early-childhood trauma, attachment and adoption-related issues, and PTSD.
Learn more →Co-occurring Concerns
Anxiety, depression, OCD, ODD, and related emotional and behavioral struggles.
Learn more →⚖️ Facing a legal or court situation? We work discreetly with families, courts, and probation departments, and can provide psychosexual evaluations when needed. Contact us confidentially to discuss your son’s situation.
Your teen is more than the challenges he faces or the diagnoses he receives. We help your son see beyond the labels — and work toward reuniting and strengthening your family.
Listen To: Breaking Free Together: Matt Bulkley, LCSW on Guiding Teens Past Porn Addiction
ACCREDITATIONS, AFFILIATIONS AND PARTNERS
