This paper defines the field of adventure therapy and relates it to other types of adventure activities. Outdoor adventure may have recreational, educational, or enrichment goals that focus on having fun, increasing participant knowledge, or building skills such as communication in a target group. Adventure therapy, on the other hand, has the…

The use of adventure programming with families has increased tremendously during the past 10 years. Like traditional adventure activities, adventure interventions with families have been well received for their capacity to fully engage participants in dynamic interactions that create therapeutic movement. These activities are especially powerful…

A distinct characteristic of the technology age is that people have more leisure time while the ways of recreation are getting more material and unified. Each step-up of technology has been fully used to produce more sensory attractive and lower unit-cost recreation products. In contrast, art recreation always means being highly devoted, creative,…

This paper describes the services and activities of the Orion Center, a drop-in day-use facility for homeless and runaway youth in Seattle (Washington). Orion Center uses experiential therapy and adventure-based activities to develop trust, promote fun and relationship building, and facilitate growth and healing among this homeless population. A…

This paper describes a developing outdoor adventure program for at-risk adolescents in Cheltenham and Gloucester City (England). The program builds on a partnership between Youth Service, the schools, and other agencies, and aims to make contact with young people aged 13-17 at risk of drifting into crime; to provide appropriate experiences,…

This paper examines practical and theoretical problems and issues that arose during evaluation of an adventure program for young offenders. During 1989-93, the Sail Training Association and the Humberside (England) Probation Service collaborated on a project in which probation clients aged 17-25 made sailing voyages across the North Sea or around…

This paper defines "adventure-based intervention,""young people," and "trouble and risk" in light of the therapeutic work done at Bryn Melyn Community (Bala, Wales), a therapeutic treatment center. Bryn Melyn provides intensive individualized therapy to young people, aged 15-18, who are in the care of social services…

This paper provides background information about the Project Hahn adventure-based program and its ongoing involvement with the Port Arthur Recovery Group to assist 42 adolescents directly affected by the murders of 36 people by a lone gunman in Tasmania in 1996. Case studies relate personal, social, and community issues faced by these adolescents,…

This paper describes experiences from a summer internship in a North Carolina wilderness program for youth 8-18 years of age with a diagnosed learning disability or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Children with ADD are trial and error learners, which makes them excellent candidates for experiential learning. Children with ADD are seekers of…

This paper describes the competencies in the domain of human interaction that are required of leaders in various outdoor adventure programs. These programs may be grouped on a continuum from recreational outdoor adventure to primary (adventure) therapy. In the middle of the continuum, educational, enrichment, and adjunctive (adventure) therapy…

The Windana Society is a drug and alcohol agency in Victoria (Australia) that operates, among other things, a residential drug rehabilitation program in a rural setting. The program utilizes a holistic approach that addresses health and physical fitness; education; vocational and re-integration support; and psychological, emotional, spiritual, and…

These symposium papers describe various aspects of the Camp Logan, South Carolina, program, a therapeutic summer residential program for children, ages 8-14, who have significant behavior problems. The philosophy and advantages of the therapeutic camping model are discussed, e.g., structure during the summer, controlled though informal…

Out Doors Inc. is a community-managed mental health organization in Victoria (Australia) that provides psychosocial rehabilitation to adults with mental health needs through outdoor adventure and other recreation experiences. This paper focuses on Out Door Inc.'s Going Places Program. The program, which ranges from 1 day to 4 months, is based on…

The Churches Commission on Education is an Australian interdenominational body committed to developing holistic programs for student well-being in the government school system. School chaplains provide a formal Christian presence, pastoral care, and counselling, and often work on programs for students with social, emotional, or behavioral…

Noting that new approaches must be found to decrease the numbers of inmates returning to United States prisons and to provide means for productive changes that will result in self-improvement and new options for inmates both inside and outside the prison after their release, a drama program was established in 1979 for inmates at the Federal…