trainings

We love working with people who are changing the world. Whether it's higher schoolers, practicum students, early-career professionals, or organizations looking to enhance their staff experience, we believe in emboldening all people towards meaningful growth through adventure, play and creative expression. Despite being in the therapy sector, we don't see a hard line between the work we do and yours. Why not? Let me tell you a story.

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Have you heard of the Friendship Bench?

 

The Friendship Bench was born in an effort to bring mental health support to a community that did not have convenient access to traditional therapy services. In a small Zimbabwe township, Dr. Dixon Chibanda taught town elders who he affectionately named "grandmothers" basic therapy principles. Since then, these lay people, with no advanced therapy degree from some fancy university, have supported thousands of people, many of which would never have been helped if we bought into the myth that we should "leave therapy to the professional." These everyday people changed lives because they were trained. Folks who were struggling would simply sit down, and using some foundational skills, such as asking open ended questions, using active listening and engaging in some basic problem solving, these grandmothers changed lives. While Dr. Chibanda calls these skills "talk therapy" skills, I see them simply as life skills - the skills that allow us and animals of all kinds to reach out and touch the life of another. 

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These grandmothers weren't therapists, they're lay people trained to provide a caring, supportive space. Even if you don't employ therapists, I'd like to believe the active ingredients that make therapy work (a trusting relationship, a listening ear, genuine hope and change-oriented rituals) is good for everyone. In a world that is becoming dehumanized, I believe everyone who working in organizations or aligned fields, including outdoor recreation, should be trained in on how to relate to people at the human level. We train outdoor recreation and aligned fields on therapeutic adventure. Similar to these grandmas, the potential is within us all, to harness it is to bring power to action.

 

Conversely, if you're a mental health organization and want to dip your toes into adventure therapy, we can discuss your training needs. There is a lot to consider when adding adventure elements to the therapy space and it may challenge some accepted ideas of what therapy is and how it works. Working with a reputable training center like ours minimizes some common pitfalls while demystifying what can seem an overwhelming traverse across sketchy situations. Truth be told, when done well, adventure therapy is a deeply rewarding specialization for clinicians, who find it improves their clinical judgment, assuredness in the therapy process, and flexibility to the client's needs.​