“Therapy was a dirty word” for Doug until an external evaluation of his wilderness therapy program found he was delivering a service that was, in fact, therapeutic. Doug joins Will and Daniel to discuss his private practice, Gippsland Adventure Therapy, and how extensive engagement in his community has helped the practice thrive in such a short period of time.

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Senior Constable Mark Cartner is a police officer of more than 20 years. Most of that experience was dedicated as a child abuse detective of a major investigations unit before transitioning to school-based policing. Upon doing so, Mark put in the grassroots efforts to develop a highly recognized adventure therapy program for disengaged, traumatized youth. Daniel and Will talk with Mark about connection to country, how trauma impacts the brain, the metaphors he brings to his adventure therapy work from his many years as a detective, the importance of collaboration, and his Walk of Life program’s recent trip to an Indigenous dance festival in Cape York. Throughout the episode, Mark breaks many stereotypes about safe and effective policing, making many inferences on how adventure therapy practitioners can base their practice on the best available evidence. Mark is current the co-deputy chair of the Australian Association for Bush Adventure Therapy.

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Interview on ABC Radio about Mark’s work

What if we told you adventure therapy, despite being more experiential or maybe outdoors, has more in common with every other therapy than you think? Join Daniel and Will for an overview of research, the best available evidence, and the debunking of some common myths around psychotherapy research. Make sure to let us know on social media what you think! What challenged you? What seems common sense and not that revolutionary? Let's engage! 

Happy Episode 10! Thanks for your continued support!

Useful Links

In today's episode, Daniel sits down with adventure therapy field expert, Dr Maurie Lung. Dr. Lung wears many hats; educator, clinician, supervisor, consultant, mom, author, and program developer. She is the founder and CEO of Life Adventures Counseling, a community organization that provides adventure-based mental health therapy and consulting. Dr. Lung is also Associate Faculty at Prescott College teaching graduate courses in mental health counseling and overseeing the Adventure-based Psychotherapy and Nature-based psychotherapy programs. Dr. Lung recently co-authored Adventure Group Psychotherapy: An Experiential Approach to Treatment.

Social Sciences WeekSocial Sciences Week is a grassroots movement occurring annually in Australia. Will and Daniel are providing free presentation on the work from Daniel's PhD. There is a series of great adventure therapy related workshops to attend! We would love to see you there! Register here! 

For Social Sciences Week, Will and Professor Nevin Harper's Outdoor Therapies book is available for 30% off and with free shipping. Use the code ADC21 at checkout from the Routledge website here! 

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This week's episode is a conversation with adventure therapy training experts Kim Sacksteder and Nick Magle-Haberek. Kim and Nick are the co-owners and founders of www.adventure-therapist.com which is an organization that offers online and in-person adventure therapy training, consultation, and supervision. In addition to their work at adventure-therapist.com, Sacksteder and Magle-Haberek both work as clinicians and administration in adventure therapy programs. They have also both been involved in the leadership council of the Therapeutic Adventure Professionals Group. In this episode, we discuss mentorship, training, certification, group juggle, and of course; the importance of the rubber chicken in adventure therapy work. Settle down next to the campfire and join us while we learn from Kim and Nick. 

Today's guest is psychologist Alexander Rose. Alexander is a trailblazer for adventure therapy in Spain, recently publishing the first adventure therapy book to be written in Spanish! The book is titled: Terapia a través de la aventura: Cuando la montaña nos hizo grandes. He is one of two representatives for Spain in the Adventure Therapy Europe network. Along with Will and Dan, Alexander shares his passion for adventure therapy and how he implements Gestalt and Experiential therapies into his work. This episode shows how cultural context truly informs adventure therapy from all around the world!

Dr Lee Gillis, co-author of Adventure Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice (2nd Ed.; 2020) and whose research has contributed to the foundation of outdoor, wilderness, and adventure therapy research, joined Daniel and Will for an awesome discussion. Take a listen to hear about the promise of future adventure therapy research, Lee's experience with adventure-based group work, and more! 

Huge thanks to Adventure Therapist LLC for sponsoring this episode! Check them out at https://www.adventure-therapist.com/

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This episode is an interview with Tuesdey Spangler who is the chair of the Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group (TAPG). Tuesdey is a clinical social worker with many years of experience using adventure therapy techniques. She has worked at Camp Mary Orton in Columbus, in private practice, and in other settings. Tuesdey came on the ATC podcast to tell us about TAPG, the TAPG preconference at AEE, and her experiences working in adventure therapy. If you don't know about TAPG, you definitely want to check this episode out to learn about one of the most important groups in adventure therapy in the U.S.

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In this episode, Daniel sits with Jessa Lytle and Kallie England from the University of Michigan's Adventure Leadership/Social Work program to discuss university education in adventure therapy techniques. Together they explore their use of high and low ropes course initiatives, how to conduct adventure-based field supervision for social work students, and their unique model for training practitioners to work in the outdoors. This episode offers a glimpse of one of the few graduate-level adventure therapy training programs in the United States. 

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In this episode, Daniel and Will begin by discussing Tony's new co-authored book, Adventure Group Psychotherapy (available in the link below) and Will's experience being interviewed by Dr Will White on the Stories From The Field podcast. What follows is an additional 30 more minutes of Daniel and Tony where they talk about professional pathways into adventure therapy and Tony's experience in working with young people with Autism. 

https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Group-Psychotherapy-Tony-Alvarez/dp/0367336901

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-from-the-field-demystifying-wilderness-therapy/id1440862416