Provoking Thought - Evoking Meaning. Giving explanation to Adventure Therapy by Ray Handley (original) (raw)
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The concept of burnout in adventure therapy is a seldom acknowledged and a limited understood phenomenon. This paper attempts to present a new perspective by joining an ecological and psychological approach to that of burnout. This analysis of burnout is completed through the metaphor of bushfire, a common Australian occurrence. Layers of meaning (like ash residue from a bushfire) reveal complex processes and ethical implications for all professionals working in the field of adventure therapy, irrespective of geographical location. This paper examines how the natural cycle of a bushfire may inform psychological notions around burnout, in particular that of burnout as a catalyst for change and soulful understanding. A case study is discussed, which attempted to remedy the high attrition rate linked to staff burnout in an Australian youth at risk program, through the processes of creating a community of support for workers. Finally, we look at personal narratives connected to preventative and curative aspects of burnout, in the hope that practitioners may use these as catalysts for their own change and soul work.
1996
This paper presents an overview of the need for theory in the field of adventure therapy. It also outlines one way of conceptualizing theories of human change as they relate to adventure therapy. The field of adventure therapy is young and has not had time to develop a coherent theoretical base. In order to contribute to the development of a shared language among adventure therapy practitioners, a conceptual map outlines program goals, the relationship of client to observer, and the resulting description of change in the client. The map illustrates the multiple perspectives on behavior change in adventure therapy programs and suggests the need to clearly articulate the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of each program. A meta-view of "theories of action" in human change processes categorizes schools of psychotherapy as insight-based, noninsight-based, or both, and relates them to appropriate client problems, types of diagnostic issues, and goals of treatment. Als...
Adventure as Therapy: A Map of the Field. Workshop Report
1994
This paper defines the field of adventure therapy and relates itto other types of adventure activities. Outdoor adventure may have recreational, educational, or enrichment goals that focus on having fun, increasing participant knowledge, or building skills such as communication in a target group. Adventure therapy, on the other hand, ha's the clear goal of engendering lasting personal change in participants. Characteristics of adventure therapy include assessment of participants before the adventure experience, preactivity discussion to predispose participants to personal c.hange, activities chosen specifically for their potential to engender personal change, and postgro/T reflection to help participants transfer changes to everyday life. Adventure therapy programs vary widely in the areas of professional context, underpinning therapeutic framework and epistemology, range of therapeutic techniques, client base and presenting problems, funding sources, types of activities, interrelationship with other programs, and program design. A chart outlines the basic principles, underlying assumptions, role of therapi.t, and role of insight in five types of therapies: insight-based therapies, "black box" therapies and other behaviorist models, systems-based therapies, experiential therapies, and psychodynamic therapies. (SV)
The Ecology of Adventure Therapy: An Integral Systems Approach to Therapeutic Change
Ecopsychology, 2010
Currently, a fragmentation in ideas exists regarding understanding psychological wellness and preferred routes to healing. This is evident in current adventure therapy (AT) literature, where unique combinations of experiential learning, challenge activities, novel experiences, group work, and other psychological theories are often used to account for positive outcomes and to explain mechanisms for change. Rarely is contact with wilderness environments included as an important variable associated with positive outcomes and change. AT has been rightly criticized for not recognizing the ecological paradigm of therapy conducted in wild nature. By including principles from integral systems theory, we offer adventure therapists a map, allowing for these seemingly disparate parts to fit together into a coherent whole. In addition, we propose that wilderness is a crucial cofacilitator in the change process. If seriously considered, these ideas pose a number of important questions for AT theory and practice.
1993
This creative dissertation in poetry explores the physical, psychic, and emotional wildernesses that people may blunder into, be forced into, or choose to inhabit. Section One, The Logic of The Lost, explores differences in perceptions, those of memory and immediate experience. These differences may be harmless, amusing, or costly, and they may persist or evolve. These poems move toward feelings that are not fully resolved, either for the narrator or the character involved. Section Two, The Mirror of Deceit, explores the ironies inherent in teaching and writing poetry. Each can be approached with passion or dread, each is a form of artistry, each produces distractions, deceptions, and failures. Section Three, Out of Darkness, begins with poems that echo the "lost" and "deceived" voices of the earlier sections by exploring the public and private darknesses people may endure. But it turns, mid-section, toward poems that find points of equilibrium or moments of reco...
Toward an Ecological Paradigm in Adventure Programming
Journal of Experiential Education, 2004
Many forms of adventure therapy, in particular wilderness therapy, rely on challenges in the outdoors to achieve objectives of client change. While nature is drawn on as a medium for therapy and healing, some adventure therapists give nature little if any mention when it comes to explaining therapeutic success. The dominant paradigm in psychology and psychotherapy provides insights as to why the contributions of nature in the curative relationship are, at times, marginalized. To more fully understand why and how adventure therapy works, the role of nature as a force in human development needs to be considered. It is proposed that ecotherapy and nature-guided therapy are viable alternative theoretical frameworks for adventure therapy. Ecotherapy and nature-guided therapy provide a critical perspective on adventure and wilderness therapy in that they recognize a social, cultural, and environmental/ecological context to human well-being and behavior. Furthermore, they explicitly acknow...