Work Environment |
Missouri is usually not the first state to pop into your mind when most people think of prime adventure and wilderness locations. While the Missouri Ozarks has incredible scenery and adventures, at Meramec Adventure Ranch it’s the participants who are the biggest draw to the program. Here, you have a chance to stand alongside youth whom most of the world and even almost every other "wilderness therapy" program has given up on—youth in state custody; those who need what adventure has to give most of all! Here, you get to use the green hills, steep ravines, high bluffs, pristine streams, and extensive karst topography of the Ozark Mountain region to allow young men and women begin to experience themselves differently, to redeem traumatization from the past, and to build trauma resilience for the future!
Add to that a 1,200-acre Ranch ideally situated in the middle of the Mark Twain National Forest with facilities including multiple high challenge courses and zip lines, team development courses, climbing walls, rappel bluffs, mud obstacle courses, high-adventure swimming and boating areas, horse stables, primitive skills sites, mountain biking and BMX trails, tree climbing, 3 miles of riverfront, and countless other opportunities to guide high-risk youth to grow, heal, and hope!
 Meramec Adventure Ranch served over 8,000 participants last year in programs running all but a few days of the entire year.
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| Year-Round Manager Job Openings |
Therapeutic Adventure Managers
Therapeutic Adventure Managers create, resource, and lead small groups of youth in residential treatment and other youth in state custody through year-round therapeutic wilderness and adventure programs. Working with and supervising other guides, Therapeutic Adventure Managers lead year-round adventure and wilderness programs lasting 1-12 days at a time for court-ordered youth living in residential treatment. You’ll intentionally use a multitude of adventure activities on the Ranch such as ropes courses, team challenges, and aquatics programs, along with backpacking trips, paddling and whitewater trips, multi-sport and climbing trips, and primitive skills/living programs to help youth heal from the past and grow hope for the future. Along with youth in residential treatment, you'll work with youth in the foster care system, wounded veterans and their families, and youth on the autism spectrum. Positions available: 4-6
This is a full-time, year-round salaried position with a full benefits package that also includes shared housing, meals when programs are running, 12-40 PTO days/year, 12 annual paid holidays, and tuition reimbursement for job related training up to $21,000. |
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| Summer Jobs |
Summer Adventure Guides
Summer Adventure Guides lead small groups of youth in residential treatment and other youth in state custody through an exhilarating 10-week summer adventure camp program. Living in tents in the woods, cooking over a fire, and facilitating the daily camp routine, you’ll use activities like ropes courses, team challenges, climbing, kayaking, aquatic adventures, land navigation, and many other adventures in intentional ways to grow young people’s confidence, relationships, and purpose, as well help them heal from the past and grow hope for the future. Youth are between the ages of 6-18, and virtually all have experienced histories of severe trauma and abuse. Positions available: 20
Adventure Guides have the opportunity to transition into a year-round Therapeutic Manager upon summer's end! |
Summer Equestrian Instructors
Equestrian Instructors teach and lead groups in horse care, grooming, saddling, and riding techniques, take them on trail rides each day, including cattle drives and ranch work, and facilitate group processing and individual growth throughout each activity. You'll have the opportunity to use horses in intentional ways to grow our young people's confidence, relationships, and purpose, as well helping them heal from the past and grow hope for the future. Positions available: 4
Summer Camp Nurses
Camp Nurse/Health Officers are responsible for camper screening, health care, supervision of medication administration, and primary emergency response, as well as assisting with the logistical operations of camp. Applicants must be an RN, LPN, or EMT, Paramedic, or Senior Nursing Student, at least 20 years of age, enjoy working outdoors, able to remain calm in intense situations, possess uncompromising character, and have a heart for serving kids who are facing tough challenges. You may live on site, camping throughout the summer with the rest of the Adventure Camp staff, though it is not required. During camp, all food and lodging is provided. Positions available: 2
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Stay tuned for summer 2025 dates!
Summer 2024 Schedule
May 19th–June 4th: Camp Preparation/Training/Adventure Race
June 5th–July 2nd: Camp Sessions 1-4
July 3rd–7th: Break
July 8th–August 3rd: Camp Sessions 5-7
Summer staff must make a commitment from May 19th through August 3rd, 2024. All staff will receive 24-48 hours off each week and a break from July 3rd-7th to recharge the batteries! |
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Perks & Rewards |
Compensation is competitive and based on position and experience, plus all staff receive shared housing and meals when programs are running.
Perks of the Job
• Never have two days that are the same.
• PRO DEALS, PRO DEALS, PRO DEALS.
• Lots of free stickers for your Nalgene bottle—everyone needs a few more.
• You can bring your hammock to work… though they won't guarantee that you'll spend much time in it.
• Looking up at the night sky from your sleeping bag and saying to yourself, This is where I was supposed to be this summer!
• Knowing that you are standing alongside youth who very few other people would ever be willing to serve… or believe in.
• All those challenges below—yep, that's right. They become true benefits!
Stand alongside people who have seen incredible adversity, hurt, and pain, and be a part of their stories as they grow to change the world! |
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Do You Have What It Takes? |
Challenges of the Job
• Kids who are extremely challenging to build relationships and trust with, and whom—many times—will act out in extreme ways to find out if you really are who you say you are.
• Long times in the woods with mud, bugs, snakes, ridiculously long hours, and no showers.
• The Ranch is what you make it to be! The team has created what the Ranch is today—and the team will create what it becomes tomorrow.
• Your success will not be based on the greatness of your techniques or strength of your skills, but on the quality and character of person you are and are becoming.
Ranch staff come here and stay here because the Ranch is one of the few therapeutic adventure and wilderness programs that still serves youth in state custody—one of the most difficult and challenging groups of individuals to work with—and the one group of individuals who most need the transformative power of adventure to help give them evidence that they can trust, heal, hope, and truly live. |
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Connections & Application |
If you are at least 20, have a calling to serve youth, disciplined work ethic, unconditional care, grit, a willingness to have fun, and passionate about being part of what is happening at the Ranch, send your resume to Brett Bailey. The Ranch will contact you immediately to start the interview process and begin to get to know you. If it's a good fit, they’ll have you do paperwork right at that time!
Meramec Adventure Ranch would be honored to serve with you and journey alongside incredibly courageous young men and women as they realize who they grow, heal, and hope. |
Brett Bailey
Director
Meramec Adventure Ranch, KVC Missouri
1203 Meramec Wilderness Ln.
Steelville, MO 65565
(573) 775-5513
bbailey@kvc.org
Missouri.KVC.org/Meramec-Adventure-Ranch
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