Registered for course 2/21,2/22/26. Cancelled due to snow storm. Reacheduled for following weekend but cancelled due to lack of sign up. I was emailing "katie" regarding another course I was looking at March 7th in MD. It was listed as same wilderness first aid public course for $270. she kep emailing me that it was for scouts only despite multiple screen shots of the public listed wilderness first aid course directly ABOVE the scouts only course the same weekend. I asked my husband to look and he agreed that I was indeed looking at a public wilderness first aid 2 day course, even upon clicking on the info. I emailed back screen shots of the info and said that was what I saw. I signed up for it and immediately receive a cancellation notice and statement of non refundable! I emailed back "Why" and received a very rude email stating it was a scouts only course as stated previously. At this point, I was furious, because the website clearly listed this as a public wilderness first aid course and I had the screen shots to prove it! I sent an email stating this and thy responded saying it was a misprint and that I should look elsewhere to get my certification. Basically they were banning me after I called them out!!!! Unbelievable!!!!! I don't think I want to associate with this group anyway. read more

I highly recommend anyone looking for outdoor training to STAY AWAY from this company. They are very rude and not remotely dependable and will lie. Here's my experience. My friend and I signed up for a class in November of 2022 that was going to be held in March 2023. A couple of weeks before the class we received a class cancellation notice due to not having enough students. So we opted to take the same class in July. And guess what? We received another cancellation notice in early July. At this point they didn't have any dates that worked for us and I was starting to lose confidence in the company actually being able to hold this class. I opted for a refund. They claimed that they needed to send checks rather than just refund the credit card and that it would take 3-6 weeks, and possibly more to receive it. Throughout this experience they were incredibly rude. I waited 6 weeks and reached out multiple times via email and they did not respond. I called and they did not respond. I finally heard from them stating that they sent the check weeks ago and there was nothing they could do. I still do not have the refund so this is still ongoing. Rarely, if ever, has a merchant been this rude or unhelpful. And it's not as if I'm asking for a refund due to my cancellation of the class. THEY cancelled two classes and are now being completely unhelpful in providing a refund. Please, do yourself a favor and stay far away from this company. I should have read through reviews on them before booking. This doesn't appear to be an isolated incident and is a similar theme with other reviews. Lesson learned. read more

These people are thieves, rude, arrogant, and unprofessional. I originally signed up to take this class in October 2022. CWS cancelled the class a couple days before scheduled "due to lack of enrollment". In the cancellation email, they said to let them know if you wanted a refund or to reschedule. I immediately responded via email that I wanted a refund. Fast forward, and I signed up for another class in spring 2023, which did in fact take place and which I paid for separately from the class that was cancelled. More about my experience in the actual class below. After completing my class, I looked back through my credit card statements and realized I never got refunded the class fee from October. The class which THEY cancelled. I reached out to the office (had to via email because they don't answer the phone). They claimed that I never contacted them about the refund (not true), and that they would have to mail me a check. Fine, I thought, so I confirmed the mailing address and they said they would mail a check. After 4 weeks, I did not receive a check and reached out. They claimed it takes several weeks to process a check. I run my own business, and I guarantee you any bill/refund/whatever can be processed and sent out in less than a week. After 7 weeks and still not receiving a check, I reached out again. No response. After 9 weeks, I reached out again if the check had been mailed. Response I got was "I believe it has, yes." After 11 weeks of still not receiving a refund, I reached out again. No response. As I write this, it has been 16 weeks and they have not refunded the class which THEY cancelled. As far as the class in the spring which I successfully completed, I will give credit where credit is due. Clif knows the material and did have a few good nuggets of information. That is the end of the positive experience. I otherwise found him to be rude, arrogant and unprofessional. During the first aid kit review, he took various contents of peoples' first aid kits and destroyed them or threw them in the trash without their permission. He regularly ridiculed people during the class. Being an assistant scout master in 2 troops, I 100% guarantee you I will be recommending to anybody I am in contact with to stay away from this company. read more

Was looking forward to the Wilderness First Aid class, but the class was canceled the day before it was supposed to start. Instead of apologizing, they blamed the students for the cancellation in a very rude way. It left me and the other students in a lurch and I had to drive over 2 hours away to get another class. I'll never, ever consider giving this organization my money, and suggest that you don't either. read more

This review is for the WFR course alone. My past experience: EMT, Lifeguard, and associated certs/recerts/classes. First let me say the scenarios were amazing, the course was fun and flexible, and it serves as a great introduction to the chaos, rewards, and confusion of emergency medicine. The relational aspect of the program is great. These things can be found in most emergency medicine courses. CWS was no exception. My review is on the professionalism, time-management, planning, and attention to life-and-death details. For these things, to those who want to use this professionally or with authoritative confidence, I do not recommend this organization. Employers will not be impressed, and if you have past experience in emergency medicine, you'll be glaringly aware of what you leave the course not knowing. Me and 12 others took the Wilderness First Responder course in the summer of 2015. The description on the website during signup noted that we would receive red cross certifications as a part of completing the course (which has since changed and been updated due to losing accreditation). This was the main reason I took the course and paid $600+. Knowing that the Center for Wilderness Safety is not nationally recognized and does not meet employment criteria for larger organizations like Outward Bound, I justified these things by telling myself I'd at least have red cross certs, which allows for easier recertifications through nationally recognized organizations, and can help when applying for internships and jobs with a probationary period. The planning wasn't great, and the guidance was minimal. The only reason I knew how to properly backboard a c-spine patient without killing them was because I was an EMT in the past, and another student was a wilderness rescue volunteer with fresher knowledge than mine. Nobody observed us putting on c-collars. The material that was taught should only be taught if the instructors are capable of ensuring their students use proper technique. Lackluster instruction like this can result in permanent injury to a patient due to the student thinking they know what they're doing and helping people in the real world when they should be waiting for professionals. We rushed through the last two days with minimal guidance or practice. Many of the slides were incomplete or incorrect. Several sections were omitted entirely, yet appeared in the quizzes and final exam. The written test was more comprehensive than the course itself. The instructors were consistently late, and frequently corrected (one instructor more than the other). We did not have a practical exam! I feel dirty admitting that. How were we certified you might ask? They passed us all on the practical exam stating that they had been observing us all along and decided that we didn't need the test. This was a farce used to justify the other instructor's early departure to catch his flight. The reality is they planned poorly. The last eight hours of class went unpracticed. To remedy that, they told us we'd get together a month later to review. It has been five months and we never met to practice, meaning the final eight hours of training were left unpracticed, unobserved, and untested, yet we all passed the practical exam and received our WFR certification. And here begins my correspondence trying to get the Red Cross certifications that were clearly listed on the course description at the time: 07/03: Class Ends. Was told to expect Red Cross certs by email (check spam). 07/27: Send email requesting Red Cross certs 07/27: Receive email "I'll check on the Red Cross ones when our certifications mgr is back in town next week" 09/08: Send email requesting Red Cross certs. No response. 09/21: Send email requesting Red Cross certs. 09/21: Receive email "Hi. Ill look into it." 09/28: Send email requesting Red Cross certs. No response. 10/11: Send email expressing frustration. No response. 10/??: Send email to main address. No response. 10/19: Send email to co founder and director of admissions. No response. 11/04: Send email to curriculum director. No response. 11/27: Send email to main address. No response. 11/30: Send email to main address using my other account without identifying myself, asking what certifications are included in the WFR course. 11/30: Receive email "Wilderness First Responder is the only certification included in WFR - and is valid for three years. We used to offer additional American Red Cross certifications about a year ago, however they were no longer offered as of March 2015." 11/30: Send email expressing my (albeit long-winded) frustration. 11/30: Receive email "Sorry that you had that experience. Good luck in your future endeavors." And so ends the saga, and the long road to find out why me and 12 others did not receive their red cross certs, and can stop checking our spam folders. read more

Clif teaches the Wilderness Safety course required for the Boy Scouts. Having just completed the course this year, and attending two high adventure camps, I can say the training does come in handy. Enthusiastic, knowledgeable and well equipped, I was very thankful for Clif's training. read more