Rockside Ranch is a residential (live-on-the-ranch) program for young men to overcome crisis and be able to thrive in work and in life. Young men ages 18-28 come from across the country to join this restoration program because they want change in their life. Their crisis might be mental health struggles or addiction to substances like drugs, alcohol or technology.

Craig Thompson and his wife Jen started this program in 2011. 

“It was a shared dream, before we were married. When we discovered that we both wanted to start a ranch for life restoration, this was one of the things that brought us together, Craig Thompson says. 

“We wanted to create a place where young men could take a break from pressures of the world that were contributing to their crisis, and learn and practice the skills they needed.”

Craig is a fourth-generation farmer from Chico, Calif. During college at Azusa Pacific University, he spent summers leading rafting trips and programs at Kidder Creek Camp near Etna, Calif., and eventually served as associate director. He has always been passionate about trying to help young people.

“There are many issues in our society that have a significant adverse impact on young men. Many of those situations can be dead ends. We kept hearing young men say that they wanted to get out of their particular crisis but they didn’t know how. We wanted a place for them to be able to do that,” he says.

Buying the ranch

Kidder Creek Camp was just down the road from a 100-acre farm that was for sale. 

“Jen and I connected with the property owners who were trying to sell that farm,” he says. “They became interested in our vision and leased the property to us for several years while we worked on being able to purchase it.”

The land and livestock provide a good environment for the young men; daily chores with the land and animals are therapeutic and healing—to give these men something to be responsible for. 

“Our students tell us its very helpful to know that they have to get up in the morning and go feed the animals—because if they don’t, the consequences are real. It’s not just busywork, on a farm.” The animals depend on you for their lives and well-being; this gives students a responsibility beyond their personal wants or needs.

During the program, students focus on sobriety, mental health, and life skills.

“Sobriety has a wide scope and meaning, today,” Thompsonn says. “We have students who have some level of substance addiction. We are not a rehab facility, so if a student needs clinical rehab for severe addiction they need to do that first, before they come to Rockside.

“Today we are seeing addiction in many forms, like being glued to their cell phones.  Some are addicted to food. Regarding addiction, some types are severe and need clinical care, but often a change in environment is helpful,” he says. This can be an important first step, to provide a different focus.

“Johann Hari said the opposite of addiction is not sobriety; it is connection. I think this has proven true for students that come to Rockside. Addiction is a way of ‘medicating’ the need for connection, and once a connection is there, they don’t need the addiction anymore. This is not true for everyone, but the clinical rehab success rate is not very good. Most of the facilities we’ve talked to say their success rate (no relapses) are between zero and 10%. Only one out of 10 guys is going to stay clean,” Thompson says.

There is nothing to replace the addiction, in that kind of program. “It can be a good start, but then they need to find a way to completely change everything about their life—to be more connected to other people, to their faith in God, and to a healthy community,” he says.

Teaching skills

The Thompsons and their team offer trade-skill workshops and also teach the men farming and cooking skills and why they must care for their bodies. Everything on the property is raised and grown without pesticides or chemicals. The men help maintain a large garden, apple and pear orchard, and blackberry bushes.

There are 30 acres of pasture for the turkeys, horses, cows, sheep, goats, and chickens.  Pigs forage in 60 acres of timberland. The ranch sells meat and eggs to local customers, and students and staff get to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

There are now two additional farms participating in this program— in Michigan and South Dakota. “Each one is growing some kind of vegetables and has livestock. On our farm here, we work closely with Kidder Creek camp and wither their horses. Our students love the horses.” The young men feed and groom the horses, and ride them once a week to develop horsemanship skills. 

On weekends the students have recreational activities, and occasionally during the week they have an outdoor adventure. In mid-September the students went on a three-day camping trip. 

“Every weekend, is some kind of adventure in nature--backpacking, fishing, hiking, rafting, rock climbing. They get to experience many different things. Videos on our website highlight those activities. Many of the guys, after they graduate, tell us they want to continue looking for ways to get outside; they build new recreational hobbies they love,” Thompson says.

Mentors are a crucial part of this program. “On a regular basis, the students work with someone they can shadow. These mentors are often tradesmen in the area; a student can learn a certain job. The ranch staff are mentors for various skills. Our staff is very dedicated to this effort,” he says.

Three attributes

Students meet weekly with a coach, and work through a promotion process tied to three scores they receive every week. 

“We use scores from a book written by Patrick Lencioni called The Ideal Team Player. The ideal team player has three virtues—humble, hungry, and smart. Humble is putting others before self. Hungry is work ethic and drive. Smart is not IQ or intelligence, but people-smart and emotional ability to relate to other people, and self-awareness.”

The students are scored 1 to 5 for their humble, hungry and smart. This is tied to their ability to be promoted. “They spend 2 to 4 weeks as a trainee. When they promoted to apprentice they usually spend 2 to 6 months as an apprentice. Then they are promoted to specialist and become eligible to graduate.”

As a specialist, they can pick an area of the ranch, and are given that responsibility. It might be the animal health, or garden specialist, retail specialist, the house supply specialist, or the vehicle specialist. There are many options.

If they are doing well in their area, students can be promoted to team lead. The other students must vote them into that position. If they are promoted to team lead, they learn managerial skills and supervise other students in their activities, and assume a position of leadership.

“The guys really lean into this. I’ve been impressed with their commitment to life restoration. They choose to come here; we don’t accept anyone who is compelled through the courts,” Thompson says.

The “tuition” is fairly expensive, but many of them have sponsors who provide scholarships. Rockside is mainly supported through donations and community effort.  “We are a non-profit organization supported by an incredible number of families who believe in what we are doing, with one-time or monthly gifts each year. This support is powerful because it tells students that there are hundreds of people who are praying for them and making a sacrifice toward their success.” 

There are also events that help raise scholarship money for students in need. A 5K run on Oct. 7 is a new event this year, and a way for the community to support the program--with in-person runs at Etna, Calif., and at Rapid City, S.D. “There is also a virtual option; people can run a 5K wherever they happen to be Oct. 7 and support us through this event,” Thompson says.