Crossing the threshold mindfully: exploring rites of passage models in adventure therapy (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Adventure Therapy, 2023
The training and development of international adventure therapy practitioners has had somewhat limited critical examination from cross cultural perspectives. While individuals and organizations have collaborated internationally for decades, to the authors’ knowledge, there has not yet been a concerted effort to examine core training for wide international scope, nor co-develop core cross-cultural training parameters. Given this backdrop and gap, directly before the 8IATC in Sydney (Australia) in 2018, a group of 24 AT practitioners from 11 nations gathered for three days in a ‘Cave’ to explore international perspectives on the necessary ingredients of training and development of adventure therapy practitioners. This paper explores the overarching outcomes of this ‘Cave Think Tank’, along with feedback from participants of a workshop at the 9IATC in Kristiansand, Norway in 2022 and reflections afterwards, to consider the question in the title of this paper. The five key themes arising in the ‘Cave Think Tank’ and explored in the workshop include: 1) Values (shared and held by adventure therapy practitioners), 2) Ways of being (as an adventure therapy practitioner), 3) Foundational knowledges (theories and bodies of knowledge that inform adventure therapy practice), 4) Skills (required for safe ‘good enough’ adventure therapy practice), and 5) Interventions (commonly used strategies or micro-interventions that are appropriate in adventure therapy practice). These core ingredients, which were agreed as important across diverse cultural contexts, demonstrates the value and benefits of cross-cultural collaboration, and will no doubt continue to be enhanced by dialogue and collaboration.
Looking at the landscape of adventure therapy: making links to theory and practice
Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 2011
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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.
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...
Griffith University: Griffith Research Online , 2020
The Cave Think Tank workshop was a pre-conference workshop leading up to the Eighth International Adventure Therapy Conference, held in Australia in 2018. The workshop took place over three days, from 10.30am Friday 24th Aug until 3pm Sunday 26th Aug. Group discussions took place in a cave and a shed, surrounded by natural bushland in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The 24 participants came from eleven nations, listed here in alphabetical order: Australia (5), Belgium (1), Canada (1), Hungary (2), India (1), New Zealand (2), Norway (1), Spain (3), Taiwan (4), UK (2), and the USA (2). The Adventure Works Australia teaching team (Anita, Pete, Ben, Amanda and Cathryn) voluntarily hosted the workshop, displaying impeccable organisation and catering skills, and helping create a safe and productive space for the work to be done. Participants were diverse in their culture, experience, professional background, ways of using adventure therapy practices, language and food preferences! All were able to speak from their experience and from their understanding of what their local practices and practice needs are. However, all were also aware that they did not necessarily represent their home nation, that they spoke from their own perspective, and that nations represented were limited to those who had volunteered to attend. The workshop aims were co-developed with participants at the outset, and co-facilitated by participants in order to meet agreed aims. It is our shared commitment to strengthen our collective Adventure Therapy practices that motivates us to share Cave outcomes. At heart, it is the benefits we’ve experienced, and the benefits we’ve seen for our participants that motivates our shared efforts. The document is free to be shared with due acknowledgement.
Adventure therapy in Aotearoa/ New Zealand: A Community of Practice
International Journal of Adventure Therapy, 2023
This paper reports findings from research into adventure therapy practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. The way practitioners have learned their adventure therapy practice is explored, and what they consider may be helpful to help the field flourish is identified. The findings are discussed through linking to a Community of Practice model. Intentional development of this model in Aotearoa/New Zealand is advocated with justification in terms of educational theory and these research findings. Given its applicability to the development aims of the international adventure therapy committee, consideration for use of a Community of Practice model for the international adventure therapy community is suggested.
’Adventure Therapy with Youth at Risk’ Lit.Rev. 2016 Rakar-Szabo
Adventure Therapy Europe, 2018
This literature review, was conducted to investigate the specifically defined core elements of Adventure Therapy (AT) methodology, as applied to working with disadvantaged and at risk youth. Determination of the key-elements was conducted within the framework of international project work, mainly during practical workshop presentations and post-processing. The purpose of reviewing the international literature in the field of introducing different programs and theories concerning ‘AT with youth at risk’, was to examine if our common findings are substantiated by literature and in positive incidence to underline their fundamental importance.
A Meta-Analysis of Adventure Therapy Outcomes and Moderators
The Open Psychology Journal, 2013
This study reports on a meta-analytic review of 197 studies of adventure therapy participant outcomes (2,908 effect sizes, 206 unique samples). The short-term effect size for adventure therapy was moderate (g = .47) and larger than for alternative (.14) and no treatment (.08) comparison groups. There was little change during the lead-up (.09) and follow-up periods (.03) for adventure therapy, indicating long-term maintenance of the short-term gains. The short-term adventure therapy outcomes were significant for seven out of the eight outcome categories, with the strongest effects for clinical and self-concept measures, and the smallest effects for spirituality/morality. The only significant moderator of outcomes was a positive relationship with participant age. There was also evidence that adventure therapy studies have reported larger effects over time since the 1960s. Publication bias analyses indicated that the study may slightly underestimate true effects. Overall, the findings provide the most robust meta-analysis of the effects of adventure therapy to date. Thus, an effect size of approximately .5 is suggested as a benchmark for adventure therapy programs, although this should be adjusted according to the age group.
An Environmental Scan of Adventure Therapy in Canada
Journal of Experiential Education, 2016
We report on an environmental scan (ES) of adventure therapy (AT) literature, organizations, and activities in Canada. The ES methodology involved (a) an examination of final reports related to a series of national symposiums on AT in Canada, (b) a review of academic literature related to AT in Canada, and (c) a summary of AT programs and courses offered at post-secondary institutions across Canada. Analysis of the reports from five AT symposiums revealed broad variability in terms of delegates and organizations represented and suggested that AT is practiced or endorsed by a diverse array of individuals and organizations across Canada. The literature review uncovered 113 relevant articles, book chapters, and papers with a substantial Canadian contribution. Canadian academic literature on the topic is sparse, and AT training and education opportunities at Canadian institutions are very limited. Implications for the future development of AT in Canada are shared.