In a Study in the January 2022 issue of Child and AdolescentPsychiatric 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 thecommon mental, emotional, and behavioral health conditions assessed. ForRyan DeLena: “As a child, I had difficultycontrolling my emotions and was placed in therapeutic schools that relied ondetrimental methods of behavior modification such as physical restraint. Nothinghelped from a team of doctors to heavy medication. Then in 2010, I wasvoluntarily committed to a mental hospital for further evaluation. My parentsRob and Mary Beth were counseled to place me in a group home. They refused.
Two years earlier, after an impulsive decision to take myskiing, my dad discovered a different child than the version experts were sosure about. By my second day of skiing, I was executing advanced runs, and witheach conquest in the winters that followed, my dad began to question the pathlaid by the professionals paid to judge me. He later convinced my mom to fightthe medical and educational complexes over my care and school placement, andtogether they fostered the freedom I needed to pursue my dream of becoming aprofessional ski mountaineer.

Written in two voices, our book Without Restraint is a jointfather-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/

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