Without Restraint with Ryan and Robert DeLena

In a Study in the January 2022 issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. The study found that, overall, 21.8 percent of U.S. children ages 3 to 17 have one or more of the common mental, emotional, and behavioral health conditions assessed. For Ryan DeLena: “As a child, I had difficulty controlling my emotions and was placed in therapeutic schools that relied on detrimental methods of behavior modification such as physical restraint. Nothing helped from a team of doctors to heavy medication. Then in 2010, I was voluntarily committed to a mental hospital for further evaluation. My parents Rob and Mary Beth were counseled to place me in a group home. They refused. Two years earlier, after an impulsive decision to take my skiing, my dad discovered a different child than the version experts were so sure about. By my second day of skiing, I was executing advanced runs, and with each conquest in the winters that followed, my dad began to question the path laid by the professionals paid to judge me. He later convinced my mom to fight the medical and educational complexes over my care and school placement, and together they fostered the freedom I needed to pursue my dream of becoming a professional ski mountaineer. Written in two voices, our book Without Restraint is a joint father-son memoir told with both pain and levity, struggle and strength, adventure and heart. It is the story of a misunderstood boy, a father’s growth, and a shared love of the outdoors that formed their unbreakable bond.” He joined me this week to tell me more. For more information: https://without-restraint-book.com/ Instagram: @extreme_ryan_delena YouTube: @extreme_ryan_delena