Adventure therapy and education

Adventure therapy & education

Adventure therapy is the deliberate, strategic combination of adventure activities with therapeutic change processes with the goal of making lasting changes in the lives of participants. (Gillis & Ringer, 1999, p.29). Through Nadler’s (1999) model we understand that while the unknown is an important aspect for the participant, the facilitators require an acute awareness of adventure therapy to maximize the likelihood of transference from the experience. The participants are placed into a novel setting outside of their comfort zone and are faced with problems to solve. Clients are then encouraged to make sense of their experiences and are assisted in understanding the potential to transfer these lessons to future situations (Plummer 2008).

However adventure education focuses on the development of interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships while participating in outdoor activities that include attributes of risk and challenge (Wagstaff & Attarian, 2009, p. 15, anon 2017). Priest comments that adventure education is based on the premise that change may take place in groups and individuals from direct exposure to challenge. Adventure education highlights the need to change and supports any personal decision to make change. By completing insurmountable tasks participants learn to overcome almost any self-imposed perceptions of their capacity to succeed. (Priest, 1990, p.114). Recent evidence confirms the influence of specific change mechanisms on many aspects of development including communication, leadership, small group development, judgement, skills and awareness of environment (Sibthorp, Paisley & Gookin, 2007).

Both adventure therapy and adventure education are applicable to my workplace as I work for an Outdoor education centre (Shielbaggan OEC) which I take clients out on various adventure activities with the goal to promote further knowledge of the skills and environment. In contrast to this I also work for an adventure therapy company (Crosscare) where we take groups of adolescents from an underprivileged area and use adventure activities as a tool to develop soft skills. (www.crosscare.ie) (www.shielbagganoec.com).

References

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/what-is-outdoor-adventure-education [Accessed 24 Oct. 2017].

Crosscare.ie. (2017). Crosscare - Home. [online] Available at: http://www.crosscare.ie/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2017].

Shielbaggan Outdoor Education Centre, Wexford, Ireland. (2017). Home - Shielbaggan Outdoor Education Centre, Wexford, Ireland.. [online] Available at: https://www.shielbagganoec.com/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2017].

Plummer, R. (2008). Outdoor recreation. London: Routledge.