Have you ever planted a seed in a spot where it didn’t grow? It wasn’t the seed; rather, the combination of sun, water and soil just wasn’t right.

Now, replace the seed with a young person in your community, someone for whom going to school is a real struggle. It’s quite likely that the conditions at school are just not right for them to thrive and flourish. For these youth, Take a Hike Foundation is there to help.  

Take a Hike is a youth mental health organization with 15 programs across BC. The organization empowers vulnerable youth with mental health and well-being supports embedded directly in the classroom. In 2025, with the help of a Foundation grant, Take a Hike launched its first programming in the South Okanagan, in partnership with Penticton Secondary.

Seventeen youth were part of the first cohort, and each of them had struggled with attendance in the traditional high-school environment for a variety of reasons. These included anxiety and other mental health concerns, previous poor experiences in school-based settings, barriers at home, like food insecurity, or the negative impacts of one or more adverse childhood experiences.

With the support and guidance of a dedicated teacher and clinician, and with a flexible learning environment that included plenty of land-based learning, these youth increased in their confidence and resilience over the course of the school year. They also began building the skills and knowledge they’ll need to forge their own successful path in life.

Consistency of support, combined with a safe and predictable environment, were key contributors to the greatly improved attendance shown by youth in the program. At the Penticton program’s year-end Circle, an opportunity for youth to share their experiences with staff and peers, there was a consistent message: “I don’t know where I’d be without Take a Hike, but it wouldn’t be at school.”

Take A Hike’s success is borne out across their programming in BC. Overall, 90% of eligible youth graduated (over 96% from programs in BC’s Interior), 76% improved their mental health, and 74% were successful in completing their Individual Education Plan goals.

For more information about Take a Hike, visit www.takeahikefoundation.org.