Download Adventure Therapy Conference Report

5th International Adventure Therapy
Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, 7th – 11th
September, 2009.
Monday 7th September.
Pre Conference Walk
The conference began at 11.00am with an optional walk up Arthurs
Seat, a small, Volcanic Range situated directly behind Edinburgh
University. A number of conference attendees participated in this
guided walk and it was an excellent opportunity to discuss what we do
and how we do it with people from all over the world. We later found
out that 21 countries were represented at the conference and a
number of them were here on this first walk. The weather was kind to
us, with beautiful blue skies allowing us to see a considerable
distance and enjoy the views. We were informed of the history of the
area, and how significant discoveries were made in relation to the age
of the planet by early residents. The area had two working quarries
and stones were gathered from here and taken to pave the streets of
London. It was area where Royalty would come to hunt and in the
valley was used for target practice.
We visited the ruin of St Anthony’s Chapel which was built in the
1400’s and was thought to be used to keep an eye on neighbouring
clans to ensure they don’t cross into their land. Arthur’s Seat is an
old volcano and used to stand three times its current height of around
250 metres. Through the shifting of the earth’s plates, the shape of
the seat has changed and it now leans on a 30 degree angle. The
information we were supplied with on the tour by our guide, Simon,
was thorough and informative, but a little bit odd, as Simon was a
Canadian who had relocated here 5 years ago, and I think the
experience would have been much nicer if we had that fantastic
Scottish accent accompanying the information. That being said, a
great experience was had by all and prior to the official start of the
conference, we had managed to generate a great deal of interest in
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
ONV and a number of people were looking forward to
presentation.
our
Conference Opening and Key Note Speakers
Thinking About Adventure Therapy as a Profession, was the title of the
paper for this keynote speaker, Sally Aldridge (Head of Regularity
Policy BACP). She raised a number of points which need to be
considered if this were to take place and listed various categories
which would need to be addressed in order for title to be adopted.
ONV would certainly have fit into a number of these categories but
certainly not all of them. Some points were made that there needed to
be boundaries around who would be classed as professionals and who
wouldn’t and that it would cause a divide within the way we currently
operate, not allowing current participants to take part in the field,
attend conferences etc. She also posed the questions, does adventure
therapy need to become a profession. As far as ONV is concerned, I
don’t think it is important. If adventure therapy does become a
profession, organisations like ours would most likely find themselves
on the outer and not be classed as professionals, which in my
understanding, is exactly the opposite of the way it was originally set
up and goes against the philosophy of the Australasian contingent,
which is that if you identify as facilitating adventure therapy, you are
welcome to become a member of AABAT (Australian Association of
Bush Adventure Therapists). This presentation was only to provoke
thought and no recommendations were put forward.
Evening Presentation
The first evening consisted of welcome drinks and poster
presentations.
This was an opportunity to mingle with other
conference attendees and network as much as possible, made that
much easier by the complimentary wine! Posters were around the
room highlighting peoples work and attendees were able to stroll
around at their leisure and take in what work is being done at their
own pace. A pleasant evening was had by all.
“Experiences of Depression and the landscapes of
coping”
The photos and associated quotes presented were provided by
participants in a research study exploring how people with
experiences of depression, engaged with the outdoors to maintain or
improve their psychological well-being.
Participants met the
researcher at a location of their choice and then interviewed at this
location regarding how they experienced it as supportive.
The
researcher invited attendees to consider how they might work with
such images and descriptions in our therapeutic practice.
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
The photos on display were taken by the participants in the
study, underneath were their comments on what they observed and
how it assisted them. I observed a photo taken of a bridge and
surrounding bushland and its reflection into the pond beneath. The
quote underneath was expressing how much clearer things were in
the reflection and how if the participant looked in a mirror how much
clearer things in their life seemed to be.
Operation Newstart regularly has young people participate in
the program, dealing with depression and related issues. It is felt we
could introduce this concept into our program. It is expected that the
young people will take photographs of what they have found
significant in their journey (no people) and explain why the place they
have chosen is special and significant to them and what that place is.
Some students will find the task challenging and perhaps through few
words and a purely photographic journey a self expression of thought
can be embraced and experienced. It I hoped that this artwork could
be on display at graduation.
We will endeavour to source funding for cameras.
Recommendation: To source sponsorship to purchase a set of
digital cameras for use by the students for a photographic life
reflective journal.
Tuesday 8th September.
Keynote Speakers
It was about this point in the conference, when we had listened to
these keynote speakers, when we began to wonder if this conference
was indeed for us. As the conference was run by BACP (British
Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy) most presenters were
academics, who were theory driven and speaking in language full of
jargon, a large proportion of which was hard to understand. We
persisted and then headed off to our morning paper sessions.
Paper Sessions
An Integral Systems Theory Approach to Adventure
Therapy
This was presented by David Segal and Duncan Taylor from Canada
and was probably the session I understood the least. Two academics,
who love their jargon and could not connect with the lay person at all.
One key point I managed to take from this presentation was that
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
disequilibrium, or putting the participants out of their comfort
zone is important, but just as important is allowing the
participant some alone time to process what is happening.
Experiential Therapy with Inpatients in Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry – Special Settings, Indications,
Practicability, Evaluation and Research
This was presented by Ulrich Ruth from Germany who spoke about
inpatients in the one particular hospital in Germany. The Hospital
has its own indoor climbing wall and patients get regular use of the
wall and progress to walking through a creek and finally on to a
caving experience. These patients are psychotic and schizophrenic
along with a number of other conditions, but the outdoor experiences
were assisting in treating the patients. The presenter stated on a
couple of occasions, “I don’t know why, it just works.”
Walking as ecotherapy: environmental appraisal and
attentional focus during bushwalking, Stewart
Dickonson , Australia
In this paper session, the presenter was looking at the way in which
clients view bushwalking and how physical condition can determine
the outcomes of the individual. In this study researchers were looking
at how clients felt through different stages of a hike, e.g. at the top of
a hill and what features of a bushwalk gave the greatest psychological
outcomes.
Students were given fitness tests and quantitative evaluation
questionnaires pre hike and were also measured at prescribed settings
during the hike. The results showed that dependent on the fitness
levels of the individual, anxiety levels accordingly i.e. the less fit group
were more anxious pre hike. The researchers also measured the focus
of the hiker to measure whether the individual were looking at the
ground concentrating on each step and the terrain at their feet or
whether they were able to enjoy the natural aesthetics such as the
views. Qualitative results from interviews and journal entries allowed
an insight to the pleasantness that each student experienced. There
were no real surprises to these results which indicated that those with
the greater fitness felt they conquered and enjoyed their surroundings
compared those who were less fit and whose accounts talked of rest
spots, lunch and going down hill.
What came from this research which is more relevant is the
implications that this has for the leaders of such hikes. What
considerations should we have when we think about the bush
walk as a meaningful experience that impacts psychological
outcomes? These include fitness, the planning and design of the
hike with respect to landscape, rest stops, rotation of leaders to
assist in the motivation of individuals and gender differences. Of
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
greater significance is to capitalise on the peak experience by
allowing time for individual reflection.
The Therapeutic Use of Caves Nigel Olsen
The workshop was introduced with the emotive images of photos from
inside caves and backed by audio of water dripping. The limestone
caves were beautifully displayed and conjured up feelings of security
and comfort as well as anxiety and fear because of the dark vastness.
Limestone caves are formed by compressed calcium carbonate which
is basically skeletons of marine life. The formations inside a cave are
formed by water draining through the earth collecting acid which
redeposits calcium inside the cave.
Caving as an activity allows participants a unique experience with
respect to the overcoming of challenges. Natural limestone caves have
been important places for shelter and spirituality for human history
and promote strong biophillic and biophobic emotions in us. Caves
remain a constant temperature (16-18 degrees) but usually are damp
with water or creeks running through. Experiments have shown that
caves a re high in negative ions which has an effect on the way we
feel. It is believed that radon gas and water create a high negative ion
environment. Waterfalls, rainforests, beaches are all examples of such
places and a relaxed, contented state is often associated with feelings
of individuals who spend time at these places. With respect to caving
individuals who are in a high challenge situation are more perceptive
and responsive to the therapeutic experience producing great
psychological outcomes.
The workshop explored the idea of the Biophyllia hypothesis which is
that human beings have a genetic link to nature. Caves, with its
ability to have young people reflect on issues important in their
life, have a great therapeutic effect and should take into account
the following points when facilitating.
-Inform clients, give information
-Introduce caving with therapeutic intent
-Introduction with risk assessment for understanding and
appreciation of risks
-Encourage individuals using senses, quiet time, listening to
water/sounds, feeling texture of rocks, darkness and feeling
comfortable.
-Allow students to lead, search ahead, keep safe.
Building Bridges – Cross Cultural Perspectives on Using
Adventure Therapy to Enhance the Therapeutic
Relationship
This was presented by Christine Norton from America.
This
presentation was presented in a practical fashion and was easy to
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Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
understand. We were able to discuss and debate topics within the
room, rather than just sit and listen to someone speak for 2 hours.
The key to what the speaker was saying was about building rapport
with your clients and didn’t necessarily have to be in the crosscultural perspective. We did have an ethicist in the room who wanted
to debate her choice of the simplest words, which became a bit
distracting, but what she was basically saying was that in any
programming we do, the client needs to have 3 things. They need
to feel SAFE, to have CHOICE, and for us to have EMPATHY.
When working with multicultural groups as we so often do, we
need to keep asking ourselves 5 key questions.
Who are our clients?
How do we keep them safe?
How do we acknowledge multicultural factors, issues of power and
privilege?
How do we provide them with choice?
How do we demonstrate empathy?
Adventure Therapy and activity based group work:
experientially exploring the full range of experiential
practice.
This was presented by Christian Itin from the Humboldt University in
California. Christian is acknowledged as one of the leaders in the field
of adventure therapy.
The session introduced us to a number of group-work activities that
were designed to be ice-breakers that we could use with our new
groups. Firstly we had to write what we wanted to get out of the
session and then we introduced ourselves to the person next to us
and tell them what sort of animal we saw ourselves as. It was then
that persons’ role to introduce the other to the group. It became quite
outrageous when we then had to make the sound of the animal we
saw ourselves as. It was a good ice-breaker and the group felt very
comfortable afterwards, even though at the time it may have been a
little embarrassing.
The main focus of the session was to explore what experiential
practices go into making up an adventure therapy program. Christian
presented a typology that could be used for mapping the activities that
we do and clump them under a series of headings.
A well balanced Adventure Therapy program should offer more than
just the traditional hiking, rockclimbing and other outdoors peak
experiences to be effective in bringing about change. Christian
presented the following as experiential methods that needed to be
included in a program that would become a catalyst for change.
Spiritual, Environmental, Action and Expressive elements and these
were further broken down into sub headings which could then be
used as a map to examine if practitioners were running a balanced
program or were focussing in one area in particular.
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
The model is quite complex and I have included the full presentation
as an attachment. The presentation also gives you lots of different
ways that you can deliver sessions to the group.
It was a stimulating discussion and one that I got a great deal from
and from it I will attempt to add a wider range of experiences into
future programs.
Recommendations:
That all programs consider undertaking a ‘mapping’ exercise to
investigate the range of experiential methods used on their
programs. This could be done at a local level with individual
programs first and then across all programs.
That a wide range of methods is both desirable and more effective
for the delivery of programs and we should build them into our
schedules.
“The thin line between punishment and planned,
effective interventions through adventure therapy”
The presentation commenced with the reference of ‘Breaking the
Child’, which reinforces the child’s distorted conditions of worth that
‘all adults will harm me’. This notion of breaking down the child
reinforces the child’s thought patterns of not being able to trust
adults. Often what happens after staff have, ‘broken the child’ they
do not have the necessary skills to deal with the issues that are
essential in putting the child back together.
Children and young people’s perceptions of adventure therapy
are key to their successful engagement in the process. Many children
do not want to engage in therapy as this is a ‘scary’ prospect for them
as they are not able to consider how life may be different with a
changed and more positive way of life. Some children view adventure
therapy as a punishment as this usually happens following a major
incident within the home and they are removed from the environment.
The discussion then centred on a 13 year old female, case
study, who had 13 placements since the age of 8. Her father had
sexually abused her which resulted in prostitution and numerous
medications for self-harm all with various side effects.
The youth worker, began to build the young girls self-esteem by
planned outdoor activities. This was in order to build up trust
between the young person and adults. There was a time away period
built in via camps. The placements were a choice of activities that the
young person wanted to do. Activities were front loaded for example
in kayaking if we move the paddle we go forward and in life we can go
forward an with a backward paddle sometimes we go backwards.
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
These concepts were explained to the young person. The young
person was still absconding from her residential unit and many
activities were analogied by using the front loading concept.
During camp a metaphorical rucksack was used and a pile of
stones all labelled with the young girls issues were placed inside. She
walked on a track and she stopped in places she chose and she would
share her issues (by choice) and as she dealt with the issue she threw
the rock/stone away and by the end of the walk she was standing
upright. In the forest she was able to talk and off load her issues,
where she couldn’t be heard, but she off loaded to the worker so
strategies could later be put in place.
The young girl was under the worker’s care for a period of 5
months and with the exception of camp visitations were weekly.
Eighteen months after the initial program the young girl stated things
had been good and was being prepared for her independence. I
enquired in relation to police charges against the father. The mother
was supportive of the father and due to insufficient evidence charges
were not laid. Other siblings were not removed as it was the belief
that they were old enough to look after themselves.
The discussion raised trust issues between young people and
adults and if we are to assist young people in need we to build a
relationship centred around trust and open communication.
Wednesday 9th September
Paper sessions
Promoting wellbeing in adolescence using therapeutic
adventure- development of best practice model. Ian
Williams, Australia
In this paper the presenter has offered a framework by looking
collectively at adventure programs which addresses the problem of the
lack of shared understanding around the key elements involved. The
framework ,formed from this extensive research of 46 authors, is
called ChANGes , an acronym for 5 key elements central to
maximising wellbeing outcomes for program participants. The five
areas are:
1. Challenge
adventure, risk, social and emotional, self awareness, identity
formation, decision making
2. Activities
experiential learning, exercise ,fitness, engagement
3.Nature
open spaces, connection , biophyllia
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Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
4.Guided experiences
reflection, debriefing, metaphoric comparisons, assist in processing
experiences
5.Social Milieu
connection to self/peers, relating to others, companionship ,conflict
management, cooperation
The presenter introduced a program, designed and delivered using the
ChANGeS framework, for young people at elevated risk for depression.
Findings from this program with respect to psychological, emotional
and social development, were positive giving assurances that the use
of such a framework for the planning and delivering of
therapeutic adventure programs is warranted.
Visit to the Jubilee Sailing Trust Ship in Leith.
This was an optional visit that was offered at the end of the day that
all Newstart Facilitators attended. We travelled by bus to the port city
Leith just north of Edinburgh. The tall ship Lord Nelson was moored
next to the Royal Yacht Britannia and the two made quite an
impressive sight.
The Jubilee Sailing Trust is a not for profit organisation that offers
pioneering sailing trips for mixed ability groups. The aim of the Trust
is to promote integration of people of all physical abilities. This is
accomplished trough adventure sailing.
They have two ships that are the only vessels in the world that have
been designed and purpose built to enable people of all physical
abilities to sail side by side on equal terms.
We were broken up into small groups for a tour of the ship conducted
by one of the many volunteers, while the ship has a permanent full
time crew, volunteering is encouraged and the passion that the
volunteers had for the ship was obvious.
Groups of able bodied and disabled passengers crew the ship for
voyages of varying durations. The ship has a schedule which takes it
on various locations including around Great Britain and the
Mediterranean Sea, clients sign up and pay for the privilege of sailing
the boat. The disabled are encouraged to be fully involved with all
facets of sailing the ship and there were many stories about how this
experience has been transformative in their lives.
The visit was quite inspirational; I have listed the website below for
more information about the Jubilee Sailing Trust.
www.jst.org.uk
Recommendation:
If anybody can source a big bucket of money, one of these
programs would add greatly to the opportunities for all mixed
ability groups.
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
“Youth Vision: Removing the walls and finding the self”
What does Youth Vision do? It is a 12 week program for 14-18 year
olds. Youth Vision provides support and learning to develop the inner
awareness and self-esteem necessary for adolescents to make a
healthy transition from childhood to adulthood. They use practical
wilderness exercises with therapeutic purposes, survival skills, group
outdoor activities using old traditional ways and wisdom to help the
young person to find his/her innate gifts.
Youth Vision has been running for over 2 years, working in the
outskirts of Balerno, Scotland. It has just received its own individual
charitable status, thanks to the umbrella of The Foundation for
Planetary Healing. They are currently expanding the project and are
moving into a more sustainable and permanent base, in Threipmuir
Cottage, at the foot of the Pentland Hills. The young people can learn
from the old ways, learn how to renovate the building and examine the
old ruins and what used to happen on the land. Bringing in Scottish
Folklore, history and archaeological work, alongside their therapeutic
but fun outdoor exercises, will encourage the youngsters to reflect,
become stronger people, establish their own identity as individuals
and become aware of the responsibilities that come with that.
By in large the program has some similar flavours to Operation
Newstart, expeditions, learning skills, solo experiences, team games
and a family invited labyrinth ceremony at the conclusion of the
course. They also work with a group of 8 students. Youth Vision also
utilise African drumming, Celtic ancient ways, Native American
wisdom. Thus, the program leans towards a cultural basis.
African drumming led to an activity called ‘The Drum Store’,
whereby the young people are blindfolded and find their way through
the woods to the call of the drums. The activity is completed on their
own without a ‘buddy’. It teaches the young people to slow down and
trust themselves. The drum beat represents the heartbeat of nature.
Native American Wisdom was brought into the program by way of ‘The
Circle of Life’. It represents the four seasons we live in, the compass,
the sun, moon, sky and earth and colour representations, all with
purpose and meaning. The Native Americans also believed that all
human beings were connected in a circle. Hence it was also taken as
a reflection of the true nature of life and the bigger picture within
which all human beings are connected.
The team consists of 2 counsellors, a therapist, 2 outdoor
survival instructors, a forest schools graduate, High School teacher
and a Youth Community Worker, all with clearance via Disclosure
Scotland. They have a staff of 10 in total. They currently source their
youth via word of mouth, flyers, families and community groups.
They currently have their young people self evaluate one
another via use of a video camera
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
Recommendation:
The use of a video camera can be a
powerful tool and we could utilise this for the young people in
their final solo to self evaluate.
Thursday 10th September
Workshop
The Cure of the Lemon Tree: A therapeutic model for
treating trauma through, nature art and metaphor.
This workshop was started using a lemon that was passed around the
group. Each person smelt the lemon and was asked to comment on its
fragrance and what memory it reminded them of. This exercise was a
pretext to the use of metaphors and imagery when treating patients
who have been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The
presenter has been treating patients in Israel as a result of the
prolonged conflict in the Middle East. In a very institutionalised
hospital with limited outdoor space, the presenter has used the
inspiration of three lemon trees to empower change and restore
mental and physical balance.
The characteristics of PTSD are1) Re-experiencing 2)Hyper-arousal
and 3)Decline in functioning. When symptoms occur after 3 months
then there is chronic stress disorder which then can allow the onset of
other disorders making treatment complex.
Somatic Experience is when a person freezes or goes into shock. In
the neo-cortex part of the brain, the amygdale is activated through
fight, flight or freeze responses. In a somatic experience there is a
discharge of energy in body after freezing. This frozen residue of
energy becomes trapped in the nervous system and forms PTSD.
Through a series of techniques using verbal and non verbal methods
it is possible to reorganise the chemicals in the brain that will assist
in relieving symptoms of PTSD.
The uses of images were interesting in this workshop. One example
was the use of cards to allow a patient to communicate a painful event
in their life. With the inclusion of positive cards the person would wish
to add to the story, there is a change the patient’s outlook. This part
included the use of cognitive behaviour theory where you change
the way someone looks at something by using more favourable
images which replace negative thoughts.
“Should making a serious mistake be a criminal act?
An examination of some possible legal consequences of
gross
negligence
in
outdoor
leadership
and
implications for adventure therapy”
Whether we are operating as professional adventure therapists, as
outdoor adventure specialists working with therapists, a volunteers,
or as program managers, we all have a clear duty of care to our client.
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
The use of adventure activities as part of therapy implies acceptance
of some risk, but the duty of care demands that the level of risk is
appropriate to the client and to the therapeutic objectives. Judging
that appropriate level of risk is one of the key functions of the
therapeutic team. When the level of risk is too high, adventure can
quickly turn into mis-adventure and serious injury or death may
result.
While the concept of civil liability due to the leaders’
negligence is well understood by those working in the adventure
therapy field, a few will appreciate that in extreme cases they may also
be charged with criminal negligence and possibly jailed.
The session explored the appropriateness of judicial
punishment in such situations, where outdoor leaders make
significant errors of judgement, resulting in serious harm to those in
their care. A case study was presented in relation to a ten year old
child of a parent helper on a small group camp. The teacher
concerned with running the camp was a career teacher who had run
these camps once a year for a number of years, but was a geography
teacher, and although experienced as a teacher he lacked
qualifications in the outdoor education field. His experience was
being gained by running the camps on a yearly basis. The ten year
old child through a series of events passed away and as a result the
teacher was charged with Gross Negligence and jailed.
The session explored why the teacher was jailed and the
ramifications for the teacher, his family, the school and the wider
community. As a result of the subsequent trial this situation is now
classed as a Corporate Killing in the United Kingdom.
In conclusion, there maybe justifications for legally punishing,
grossly negligent outdoor leaders. Those justifications are NOT the
commonly understood ones. Frontline staff are the ones most likely to
pay the price when things do go wrong and legal punishment will only
be part of the penalty.
Some of the lessons learnt in this case were that some
adventure activities are best seen as ‘hybrid’ activities and there may
be no training or qualifications for these. Leaders need to realistically
assess their own skills and apply cut-offs. Managers need to check
the training, qualifications and experience of leaders before approving
activities. Adult supervision and competent outdoor leadership are
not the same thing.
Recommendation: For Operation Newstart staff whether Police or
Education Facilitator’s to acquire and maintain as many activity
based and relevant qualifications as possible.
Experience in this instance also speaks volumes.
For Police staff not to be rotated on too regular basis, so as not to
put the burden of experience and qualifications on the Education
Facilitators
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
Engaging youth in treatment: adventure therapy
practices in Switzerland and the United States.
This was presented by Christophe Gruring from Switzerland.
I attended this session hoping to gain an understanding of some of the
philosophical differences to the practice of adventure therapy from two
very different countries and was excited about hearing these
perspectives.
Christophe had experience working in both Switzerland and the
United States. As a practicing psychotherapist his presentation was
meant to examine how wilderness therapy acted to engage delinquent
youth as well as some of the cultural differences that needed to be
taken into account when working in different countries.
Christophe was obviously overwhelmed by the occasion and very
nervous. His material was not at all interesting and he struggled
greatly in his presentation skills. I did not gain a great deal from this
session.
Recommendations:
Nil
Operation Newstart Victoria Patron
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon