Take a Hike Sooke
In partnership with SD 62 and based at the Westshore Centre for Learning.
Opened in 2022 and serves up to 18 youth.
For intake information, please contact Sada Keel at 250.588.4065 (available September – June).
Applicants will be interviewed, and notified of their status. Upon acceptance to the program, youth must sign a medical clearance form before attending classes.
Take a Hike empowers vulnerable youth through a full-time mental health and emotional well-being program embedded in an alternate education classroom. Over the past 25 years, Take a Hike has supported over 1,000 youth, to change the trajectory of their lives.
Take a Hike partnered with School District 62 in September 2022 to open the Sooke program at the Westshore Centre for Learning. Together, we engage up to 20 youth each year by combining high quality education with intentional, continuous clinical counselling, community initiatives, and land-based learning. We empower youth with the skills and resilience they need to graduate high school, build healthy relationships, and achieve success – however they define it.
As the youth mental health crisis continues to grow across Canada, the demand for Take a Hike’s transformative program is rising. Take a Hike demonstrates the powerful combination of mental health supports and land-based learning, as youth report a greater sense of purpose, community and self-awareness and are more likely to graduate high school.
While in the Take a Hike program:
90%
of eligible Grade 12s graduated
96%
of youth reported learning skills and knowledge to be successful in the workplace
99%
reported having safety in expressing their feelings at Take a Hike
Youth in the Sooke program regularly explore the outdoors and engage in community building opportunities that the area offers, such as kayaking in the Gulf Islands, taking part in environmental volunteering in local parks, learning fire-building skills, snowshoeing on Mount Washington and exploring local hikes and daily forest walks. The youth have also paid a visit to a conservation center on an island off the coast of Tofino. The powerful multi-day trip saw the group spend meaningful time with Indigenous Elders and engage in learning deeply rooted in culture and place.
