28-05-2025
In suit, another Trails Carolina camper alleges sexual assault at wilderness therapy camp
This story includes descriptions of child sexual assault.
Another camper who attended Trails Carolina has filed a lawsuit alleging they were sexually assaulted at the now-shuttered Western North Carolina wilderness therapy camp.
The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court on May 22, claims Trails Carolina's owner, Oregon-based Wilderness Training & Consulting — which does business as Family Help & Wellness — engaged in "unfair and deceptive trade practices" and 'negligent, grossly negligent and wanton acts and omissions' that led to the alleged sexual assault and the former camper's subsequent post-traumatic stress, depression and emotional pain.
This lawsuit is not the first filed this year against Family Help & Wellness related to alleged sexual assaults that occurred at Trails Carolina, which closed in 2024 following the death of a camper.
A federal lawsuit filed in March, alleges one of the camp's adult male field instructors sexually abused a 12-year-old camper in 2015. Two other federal lawsuits involving alleged sexual assaults at the Transylvania County camp were settled in 2024.
In the May 22 lawsuit, the former camper, whom the Citizen Times is not naming since they might be a victim of sexual assault, alleges they were sexually assaulted at Trails Carolina in 2018 by an older camper who held a 'metal object' to their throat while the two shared a tent.
The suit claims that the older camper was 18 years old and had a known history of sexual activity with other campers at the time of the alleged incident. It also claims that Family Help & Wellness "deceptively hid the fact its policies and practices permitted individuals who were over the age of 18 and who engage in same-gender sex with minors to participate in their same-sex adolescent program" for children.
According to the suit, the former camper, who was 16 years old at the time, reported the sexual assault to field staff. In response, the camper claims staff members wrapped the child up in a 'burrito' restraint and said they would discuss the incident the following day, only for staff to dismiss the report. The camper also claims to have reported the incident to a camp therapist. The therapist doubted the camper's report, according to the suit, 'explaining that people often tried to use sexual assault as an excuse to leave the Trails Carolina program.'
According to the suit, the therapist did not document the alleged assault, nor did Family Health & Wellness disclose the alleged assault to the child's parents.
The camper attempted to escape from Trails Carolina multiple times, the lawsuit contends. In one instance, according to the suit, the camper told a local law enforcement officer who arrived at the camp that 'something bad had happened' to them, only for the officer to leave 'without intervening to assist' the child.
Two days later, according to the suit, the camper's father picked up the camper from Trails Carolina, the same day Family Health & Wellness told him his child had 'an encounter' with another camper.
'FH&W (Family Health & Wellness) has failed to adequately investigate claims of sexual abuse and other neglect by minor enrollees,' attorneys for the camper wrote in the complaint. 'Instead, FH&W has spent years intentionally concealing incidents of physical neglect, child deprivation, injury, and sexual assault and battery from its regulators, organizations like CARF (the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) who certified it, and the public for the deceptive purpose of lulling parents into false sense of security and causing them to entrust their children to FH&W's custody.'
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages under state law.
Attorneys for the former camper did not respond to a request for comment from the Citizen Times.
In a May 27 email to the Citizen Times, a spokesperson for Wilderness Training & Consulting disputed the claims raised in the lawsuit.
"We take any allegations concerning the care and well-being of our residents seriously,' the spokesperson said. 'While we cannot discuss specific situations or ongoing legal matters due to privacy, we believe the portrayal of our care and the resident experience is inaccurate, and we are prepared to defend our case in court."
Family Help & Wellness continues to operate therapeutic camps and residential treatment programs in North Carolina, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. According to its website, it runs Asheville Academy, a therapeutic boarding school and residential treatment center in Weaverville for girls as young as 10. In May, an Asheville Academy student died by suicide, the Citizen Times previously reported.
More: Former Trails Carolina camper alleges sexual abuse at WNC wilderness therapy camp in suit
More: WNC camper death: NC Health records show prior child death violations; delayed search
Jacob Biba is the Helene recovery reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jbiba@
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Lawsuit: Another camper alleges sexual assault at Trails Carolina
