Adventure Therapy: Exploring the Healing Potential of the Outdoors An Update of a UK Seminar Dec, 2002

Transcription

1 Adventure Therapy: Exploring the Healing Potential of the Outdoors An Update of a UK Seminar Dec, 2002 Kaye Richards Brathay Hall Over a weekend in December 2002 the UK saw what was probably one of the few collective gatherings of people nationally who had the intention of debating adventure therapy and exploring the healing potential of the outdoors. Brathay Hall in partnership with the MA in Development Training at St. Martins College and the International Adventure Therapy Working Party hosted a two-day seminar at Brathay to consider current practices, issues and debates faced with developing approaches to adventure therapy. A collective of key presentations and workshops by both national and international practitioners and researchers created a dynamic forum that started to set out an agenda for determining a future direction for adventure therapy practice both in the UK and internationally. The Aims of the Seminar Were: To examine current practices and perspectives of adventure therapy To explore the therapeutic potential of healing outdoors To identify key issues being faced in developing adventure therapy practices To provide a platform from which to map out and develop further a UK identity to adventure therapy To contribute to an international exploration of current practices in adventure therapy Questions Posed at the Seminar Included: What is a definition for adventure therapy? What historical developments underpin current practices and issues in adventure therapy? Where does and how does psychotherapy and the outdoors meet? What are the differences between UK based practices and international based practice? What theories of change underpin adventure therapy? What issues are we faced with as we search for professionalism in adventure therapy? It is not the intention of this article to attempt to answer the above questions they are very much ongoing questions that need to be posed as the field of adventure therapy continues to develop. For example, there is ongoing debate in the international community as to what a concise definition of adventure therapy is. For example, the South Pacific Forum held in Victoria, Australia in April, 2002 highlighted that there was a need for using the term wilderness adventure therapy in order to embrace what was important to practice in this part of the world the wilderness experience (Pryor &

2 Carpenter, 2002). So it is by no surprise that a clear definition for adventure therapy was not a straightforward question for the seminar, as many perspectives are bought to what an adventure therapy process may consist of. Hinging around the question of a definition is whether it is adventure s wishing to employ therapy, or whether it is therapists wanting to employ adventure. Dependant on what direction adventure therapy is approached from i.e. adventure or therapy - will in part determine what is emphasised in any definition. In some ways this became evident during the seminar with an emerging tension between employing outdoor adventure processes or employing psychotherapeutic processes in the outdoors to achieve therapeutic benefits. This tension highlights an international debate that continues to be had that is the debate of whether practice is defined as therapeutic adventure or if practice is defined as adventure therapy? This tension, however, is a healthy tension as it enables practitioners to gain greater clarity as to the therapeutic processes they intend to employ in the outdoors and where these do and do not meet psychotherapeutic processes. It also asks us what needs to be in place for either of such processes and, thus, a question of professionalism becomes one of the many agendas that are of consequence of a definition debate. What is also worth noting is that there is little recognition within the public domain of adventure therapy being a coherent field (Berman & Berman, 1994). Recognising this brings into awareness many of the underlying issues that as a collective group we would were tackling during the seminar i.e. how do we / can we develop adventure therapy as a recognised field of endeavour? What practice and understandings currently exist that would support such a process? The seminar highlighted some of the difficult terrain we are faced with in order to determine both a collective sense of our direction and to then put the steps into action in order to move ahead with a appropriate strategy of development. It raises the question of what do we need to understand and achieve in order to achieve the recognition we search for. As became evident during the seminar, and is becoming evident in the international forum, achieving the recognition we hope for is probably more difficult and complex than it was first thought to be. Seminar Perspectives A variety of perspectives were bought to the forum and themes included: International Perspectives Ecological Perspectives to Healing in Nature Practice and Partnership Perspectives to Developing Therapeutic Adventure Practices Research and Practice Dilemmas in Developing Adventure Therapy An International Perspective Martin Ringer an Independent Group Work Trainer and Adventure Therapist from New Zealand and the host and conveyor of the First International Adventure Therapy Conference in Perth, Western Australia, 1997 (see, Itin, 1998) set the scene to the seminar by asking the question Adventure WHAT? and examining the emergence of

3 adventure therapy on the international sconce. He highlighted how adventure therapy has emerged from a wide range of disciplines and geographical regions around the world and, as a recently emerged field of endeavour, as yet has an uneasy identity as a profession. He highlighted some of the diverse international trends in AT with particular reference to Australia and New Zealand experiences. The international context in which adventure therapy has developed and in which it currently sits is an important part of gaining a sense of position in the UK. This is because such knowledge fuels a growing awareness of what practices in the UK consist of in comparison to international practices. This enables a UK perspective to develop in a way that can be informed by international developments, yet can also be appropriate to its own cultural context. An Ecological Perspective to Healing in Nature Hilary Prentice the co-founder of the UK Eco-Psyhcology Network and an Integrative Psychotherapist bought an important, and what I would argue is often a neglected yet essential perspective in adventure therapy, that of the ecological purpose and dilemmas of working therapeutically in nature. In her presentation Planet earth risks the adventure of the modern human: Adventure therapy meets eco-psychology she provided a concise and in depth overview of the evolution of eco-pyshcology, followed by an analysis of issues faced in integrating such a perspective to adventure therapy. Ronen Berger a Drama and Body Therapist from Israel and currently a PhD researcher at Sheffield Hallam University presented an overview of the basic principles and methods of a nature therapy approach that he has been developing in Israel. He highlighted nature s ability to provide a unique therapeutic setting, and explored its special characteristics and qualities. He also introduced the therapeutic potential that lies in the dynamic trio between therapist client nature and the ethics that are derived from this. Tania Dolley, the co-founder of the UK Eco-psychology network and a Counselling Psychologist and Hilary Prentice, also the co-founder of the UK Eco-psychology network, explored experientially approaches to eco-therapy, considering how outer nature may mirror our inner nature. Within such a process they highlighted that we may have feelings and concerns in our relating to the wider context of what is happening to the natural environment on the planet at this time, and that such issues become a dynamic part of the therapeutic process. These ecological perspectives clearly remind us of the setting in which adventure therapy takes place nature and consequently what such a setting means for bringing together ecology and psychotherapy, and developing a nature based approach to healing outdoors. This agenda highlighted how adventure therapy needs to reach out to other work that is examining how ecological and nature-based approaches to psychotherapy are being developed. In doing so, adventure therapy can become more widely integrated, informed and critical of aspects of what an approach to healing outdoors may and, perhaps, should consist of.

4 A Practice and Partnership Perspective to Therapeutic Adventure Practices Barbara Worrall, Chair of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) North West (Registered Charity), provided an overview of the ongoing development of a therapeutic adventure programme for young people affected by ADHD that has been developed through a collaborative process with outdoor trainers, cognitive behavioural therapists, ADHD specialists and a researcher at YMCA Lakeside, UK. She examined the conception, birth, and development of an innovative and unique approach to effecting change in young people with ADHD. She also considered how the use of challenging outdoor activities is to be used as a vehicle for the introduction of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to developing an outdoor therapeutic intervention for ADHD. This example of practice highlighted in some detail the way in which theory and practice can be developed by the bringing together of differing specialists to create a therapeutic adventure setting. Beth Dobson, a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, and Wil Payne, a Youth Development Trainer at Brathay, explored the value of collaborative practice in adventure therapy. They examined the ways in which they have developed collaborative practice between Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Development Training. They examined how specific theoretical approaches to personal change can be applied to an outdoor developmental setting with the aim of enhancing the therapeutic benefits of such work. Chris Reed a qualified Art Therapist (and editor of Horizons) explored the link between therapeutic story making and the arts with therapeutic journey taking in the outdoors. He examined a specific approach to drama therapy and highlighted its commonalties with wilderness therapy practices. Chris demonstrated here how approaches to therapy ie. Sesame movement and drama therapy can be integrated within an outdoors approach to facilitate a therapeutic change process. The above examples of practice are illustrative of current needs in adventure therapy, in that the success of much of future practice will probably be dependent upon the forging of collaborative relationships of differing specialists. This is because it is difficult to expect without any formal training or professional framework existing in adventure therapy in the UK for any single person to be able to hold competence in all the required areas required for developing diverse practices for differing client groups. Thus, collaborative partnerships and the integration of other non-adventure based therapeutic approaches to the outdoors is the realistic approach to the development of practice, but also currently the most appropriate approach if we are to practice in an ethical and quality way. Further, it opens up the scope of exploring the integration of specific theoretical models of therapeutic change to the outdoors thus adding to what is currently a limited theoretical base of adventure therapy. Research and Practice Dilemmas in Developing in Adventure Therapy Drawing upon my own professional experience I presented an overview of some of the dilemmas and decisions of developing research and practice in adventure therapy with a particular emphasis of working with women with eating disorders (see Richards et.al., 2001). This included the approaches to developing an understanding of an adventure

5 therapy approach (i.e. experiential explorations of the relationship between therapy and the outdoors with a group of psychotherapists) and issues faced with working therapeutically with an eating disorder client group in the outdoors. What I also highlighted were many of the ethical issues faced in my experience of developing and linking research and practice. I explored how my own outdoor and healing journeys had impacted upon the approach to adventure therapy that I had developed. It is here that the reflexive process of the adventure therapist became an issue for my experiences of developing professionalism (see Richards, in press). I also argued that the future of the field will be dependant upon quality research being undertaken that enables us to determine both the therapeutic benefits of such work, but also allows us to develop theory of change processes for such work. This will then enable us to inform practitioners and develop adequate training for future adventure therapists. Collective Explorations of Adventure Therapy During the seminar Martin Ringer posed a set of questions to delegates as a way to consider in more detail elements of adventure therapy. These included: What are the essential elements of adventure? What are the essential elements of therapy? What is unique about adventure therapy that does not emerge from the transitions of adventure or therapy? What are the elements of our work that need to be present to create a profession of the nature that we seek? These questions were discussed at some length in an exploratory forum and a number of emerging observations and issues, and further questions became evident. Some of these included: Emerging Observations and Issues There are two camps - adventure practitioners and therapists. There is a need for a professional community. We need to develop professional integrity and validity- this needs to be validated somehow. We need to develop ways to share of skills. We need to have some depth to what we do. We have to be aware of the tension of working professionals having to justify their work. Psychotherapy (hence adventure therapy) should be connected to Earth. We need an adequate programme of training. We need a respect for divergence rather than convergence as we continue in our explorations. Many practitioners do elements of incidental therapy in adventure. Adventure therapy is more than just another branch of therapy.

6 Adventure therapy provides triggers into therapy but is it more than this an earth based process. We need to bring into awareness what is happening in adventure therapy. We need clarity about what we do, including role clarity. We have to develop our own language to do this sharing the word therapy is different to the word therapeutic. We need to be cautious and recognise that taking people into the outdoors may not necessarily be good for everyone. There seems to be some agreement that we are using adventure therapy. If we are to be considered professional we need more clarity about what a professional adventure therapy practitioner does. We need to develop the critical aspect of training, development and evaluation. We need deep understanding of self through personal exploration, therapy or other processes. We need professional supervision. We need to shape the nature of what we do so as to be useful and acceptable to the culture and the people we work with. Further Questions How do we differentiate between adventure therapy and wilderness therapy? Who can legitimately call himself or herself an adventure therapist? Does adventure therapy attract certain types of people and do we consider this in the sense that different therapies may be suited to different kinds of therapy? How do we become more effective? How do we negotiate the boundaries amongst ourselves? How do we negotiate the boundaries between our clients? How do we develop a process for developing an adequate framework for professionalism for adventure therapy? What do we do next to continue to generate an active adventure therapy community in the UK? Conclusions The presentations and debates during the seminar exemplified examples of the ways in which developing adventure therapy practice in the UK is being approached. There is obviously more practice to be added to the examples above and many of the delegates at the seminar had their own experiences of developing practice. Yet, it seems clear that there is agreement that we are using some kind of adventure therapy in the UK this agreement is in itself important as we often look to international practices for confidence in the field of adventure therapy. So not only is there is a growing interest of adventure therapy, there is also a growing application of practice. This is encouraging for the possibilities of future developments. What is now needed is further exploration and sharing of the diverse approaches to adventure therapy, along with a more in depth examination of the theories and processes of changes that underpin such practices. What also became a central question during the seminar was how as a field we could start to

7 develop professional integrity that could stand its ground from a therapeutic perspective? Moving along such a road will obviously bring with it a continuation of many of the debates that were had at the seminar. Yet, it is by putting professional issues clearly on the agenda that we can start to understand more about what is that we do and what it is that we could do during an adventure therapy process. As a result of the seminar and other proceeding events it is clear that UK now has the opportunity to contribute more fully to the international community of adventure therapy, and the international community has a better road into supporting developments in the UK. As a delegate said the forum was an historic event for the field and its development. It is my intention for the debates had at the seminar to be fed into the Third International Adventure Therapy Conference (21 25 April 2003, Victoria, Canada, see 3IATC.com) and for the international community to consider how it can support ongoing developments in the UK. With over 80 delegates at the seminar I find myself hopeful for the future of adventure therapy in the UK. Both the presenters and delegates at the seminar have set the ground from which the UK can start to build a greater sense of community. As one delegate clearly said we now have a community of adventure therapy in the UK. This suggests that there is a body of people that can now generate the framework for the building of a UK identity to adventure therapy and also a much needed framework for ethical and quality practice. It seems important given the ground work that has been achieved at the seminar that we continue with our explorations of the therapeutic and healing potential of the outdoors, and integrate such explorations within international developments. As a growing collective community we now need to look towards a future direction. We need to move forward in a such a way so in the future we can find ourselves becoming a recognised field of endeavour for the public, as many of us believe we have the potential to be. References Berman, J.D. & Berman, D.S. (1994). Wilderness therapy: Foundations, theory and research. Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing. Itin, C. (1998). Exploring the boundaries of adventure therapy: International perspectives. Proceedings of the 1 st International Adventure Therapy Conference: Perth, Australia. Colorado: The Association for Experiential Learning. Pryor, A & Carpenter, C. (2002) Report of the South Pacific Wilderness Adventure Therapy Forum in Bacchus, March 2002 and Victoria, April Unpublished Report: Victoria University, Australia. Richards, K. (in press). Critical feminist reflexive research in adventure therapy and eating disorders: Exposing the narratives of an embodied, relational and gendered identity. In B, Humberstone, H, Brown & K, Richards (Eds.). Whose Journeys? The outdoors as critical and social phenomena. Critical explorations between individuals, others and the environment. Cumbria: IOL.

8 Richards, K., Peel, J.F.C., Smith. B., Owen, V. (2000). Adventure therapy and eating disorders. A feminist approach to research and practice. Ambleside: Brathay. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge Brathay for hosting the event, Sarah Singleton of Brathay for her administration support, all the presenters for their contributions, Martin Ringer for his sharing of holding the seminar space with me, and finally the seminar delegates for their generation and enthusiasm for what has now grown to become a healthy and lively UK adventure therapy community. Publication of Interest Available from May, 2003 at the IOL Bookstore: Richards, K. (with Smith, B.) (Eds.). Therapy within adventure. Proceedings of the Second International Conference, University of Augsburg. Germany:Zeil. Course of Interest An Open Course in the Therapeutic Applications of Development Training (Adventure Therapy) hosted at Brathay Hall and led by Kaye Richards: June (An open module as part of the MA in Development Training at St Martins College) For further details contact: Sarah Singleton, Brathay Hall, Ambleside, Cumbria. Tel: / sarah.singleton@brathay.org.uk About the Author Kaye Richards is Research Leader at Brathay and an MA Lecturer in Development Training at St Martin s College / Brathay Hall. She is a member of the International Adventure Therapy Working Party and her Phd Research has been in adventure therapy and eating disorder. She is currently pursuing her interest in psycho-spiritual psychotherapy and has edited a number of publications in outdoor education, including Therapy within Adventure (in press). kaye.richards@brathay.org.uk