Adventure Therapy &
Wilderness/Nature Therapy

What's New?

• Investigation of wilderness therapy, adventure therapy & experiential education practices in Europe, UK & USA
  (Paul Stolz, 2002, Report for Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, Australia; .pdf)

An Australian report on wilderness and adventure therapy practices in the US, UK and Europe, based on site visits including the 2nd International Adventure Therapy Conference (Germany), Youth Intensive Program (Austria), Brathay Training Centre (UK), REAL School (USA), and Catherine Freer (USA). Provides insightful comparative detail and comment on international understandings and practices in adventure therapy.

• Adventure therapy: State of the profession
  (Lee Gillis, 2005, 4-6 February, 2005, Keynote address to the AEE Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group, USA)

  Gillis offers a critical, historical, and solution-focused view of the current state of the adventure therapy profession, suggesting it will need to foster research and theory in particular, in order to survive and thrive.

• Adventure therapy helps mentally ill teenagers
  Mick Bunworth, 6 December, 2004, TV Program Transcript, ABC Online, Australia)
  

  The benefits of pushing body and soul to the limit in adventurous activities has, for some time now, been considered a healthy tonic for the pressures of a busy life.  But a clinical psychologist with a passion for the outdoors has found those benefits now extend to the treatment of teenagers suffering mental illness.  It's called Adventure Therapy and in some cases it's replacing prescription drugs and counselling.

• Treatment effectiveness of Wilderness Adventure Therapy: Summary findings
  (Simon Crisp & Cindi Hinch, 2004, YouthPsych Consulting Australia; [27 pages; zip/pdf])

  Describes a 10-week part-time adolescent clinical treatment model.  The program applies a "social-emotion competency and coping skill framework to group based adventure experiences that are implemented in the field by a psychologist".  Summary research results based on Achenbach's Youth Self Report, including 3 month and 2 year followups with 39 adolescent outpatients, suggesting similar efficacy to pharmacological treatment of depression plus a range of other therapeutic and protective benefits, including improved self-esteem. The study also reports positive participant ratings and feedback on the program.

• Therapeutic Adventure Network

  A resource website for adventure therapists in the South Pacific region. This site provides information and resources to practitioners, participants, researchers and others interested in the growing field of wilderness adventure therapy.

• So you want to be an adventure therapy worker?
  (Seeking Active Employment, Queensland Government, Australia, 2004)

  Adventure therapy workers use outdoor recreation activities to help people develop as individuals and solve personal problems. The work can be particularly demanding and you’ll need a degree such as social work or psychology,  excellent skills in counseling and the ability and qualifications to lead a range of outdoor recreation activities.

• Call for Presenters: 4th International Adventure Therapy Conference
  (New Zealand, 1-5 February, 2006)

  An international gathering of professional people working in the field with different forms of adventure-related therapy and researchers/academics.  The theme is "Connecting with the Essence".

• Adventure therapy: Exploring the healing potential of the outdoors
  (Kaye Richards, Brathay Hall, an update of a UK seminar, 14-15 December, 2002 [.pdf; 35kb])
  

  Provides a rich overview which highlights significant questions about what adventure therapy is, where it comes from, where its going, and some of the  diverse aspects of adventure therapy which deserver further exploration.  Richards paints a picture of an international, diverse and growing field which overlaps psychotherapy, adventure experiences, and ecopsychology.

• Working with substance abusing adolescents through Project Adventure
  (Lee Gillis & Cindy Simpson, 1994, Addictions Looseleaf Notebook)

  Gillis and Simpson's article is now a classic in the annals of adventure therapy.  It is the clearest and most comprehensive description of how adventure-based counseling (ABC) can be used for treating drug-addiction problems in youth.  The article outlines an ABC process with details of specific activities to stimulate ideas about how experiential adventure programming can help to facilitate positive insight and positive action for youth and families struggling with drug-abuse.

• Family adventure therapy: Overview, theory & research
  (James Neill, Outdoor Education Research & Evaluation Center, April, 2004)
• Simon Crisp develops wilderness therapy certification in Australia
  (The Outdoor Network October 21, 2003)
• Call for authors: International Adventure Therapy Handbook
  (Eds Kaye Richards & Martin Ringer, September, 2003)
• Can Challenge Courses help overcome eating disorders?
  (Yahoo News, October 22, 2003)
• Youth programs cut crime, costs
  (DeAngelis, 2003, American Psychological Association Monitor, 34(7))
• Juveniles riot at Outward Bound
  (Sun Herald, 29 July, 2003)
Wilderness Therapy - Symposium & Training
September 26-28, Naropa University, Colorado, USA
• Sweat therapy heals traditionally
  (Colmant, 2003, Sweat Magazine)
• Outdoor Behavioral Health Research Council launches research study
  (StrugglingTeens.com)