323: Bringing Mental Health Treatment Home: The PRN for Families Model

What happens after a young person returns home from wilderness therapy or residential treatment and begins to struggle? In this episode, Will sits down with Charles Elias, founder of PRN for Families, to explore an innovative model that brings mental health treatment directly into the home. Drawing on more than four decades in behavioral healthcare, Charles explains why lasting change requires working with the entire family, how home-based wraparound services strengthen the transition from higher levels of care, and why family preservation may represent the future of behavioral healthcare. Charles also shares his remarkable journey from England to Colorado, his years as a wilderness therapist at SUWS, his service as a U.S. Navy Corpsman during the Iraq War, and how those experiences shaped his approach to helping families in crisis. Together, Will and Charles discuss the evolution of wilderness therapy, the power of family systems, resilience, and why innovation in behavioral healthcare increasingly means helping families heal where they live. This podcast is supported by the White Mountain Adventure Institute (WMAI.org), where Dr. Will White helps individuals, leaders, and organizations navigate growth, change, and life transitions through coaching, consulting, and retreats.