A Brooklyn mom is demanding an insurance company pick up the $50,000 tab for her son’s “wilderness therapy,” a program where troubled kids hike their problems away while eating ritzy food and getting clean clothes delivered.

The woman filed an anonymous class action lawsuit against Oxford Health Insurance, saying the company, by refusing to pay, had violated a state law ensuring equal coverage for mental issues.

Her 16-year-old has struggled for years with “depression, low self-esteem, and harmful aggression,” according to the Brooklyn Federal Court papers.

The teen’s therapist wanted to put him in a residential treatment facility, but the centers required wilderness therapy first, the mom said.

She and her husband, a Brooklyn small business owner, enrolled their son in Second Nature, a Utah-based program where struggling youth hike three-to-five miles a day, set up and break down camp and have frequent group therapy sessions. Meals include everything from organic and vegan options to granola, tofu, summer sausage and stir fries.

According to Second Nature’s Web site, being in the wild helps kids “process” their issues.

“Woven into the daily schedule is a strong focus on assertive communication skills, which are used to process feelings and thoughts that arise while hiking, cooking together, setting up camp and other activities,” the Web site says.

Oxford first rejected the mom’s request for coverage in May, because it didn’t consider Second Nature a licensed residential mental health program. The company allegedly denied an appeal from the mom claiming the treatment is not “evidence based.”

But evidence strongly supports the effectiveness of wilderness therapy, said Michael Gass, who studies the practice.

Residential treatment facilities “are finding that their clients are more willing to change when their clients have gone on wilderness therapy,” he said.

The programs usually include around-the-clock staffing with trained therapists in 60-to-90-day stints, which accounts for the large expense, said Gass, director of the University of New Hampshire’s Outdoor Behavioral Health Center.

Lawsuits are starting to crop up aiming to force insurance companies to cover wilderness therapy. “[It’s] the big debate right now,” said Gass.

Oxford hadn’t seen the lawsuit, said a spokeswoman who declined to comment.