Why We Go
Time in the field, one-on-one, for multiple days and nights, allows us to deeply connect with the client, their goals, their challenges, and their dreams. In addition, adventure immersions allow us to unplug, re-set, slow down, and adopt a natural pace in harmony with the environment. Immersive experiences help us to reflect on what is and what is not working in our lives and what shifts we may need to make. It also allows the crew of guides to hold space for themselves, along with the client, to demonstrate and model the ongoing need for deepening our connections to the skills we teach. Ultimately, when we are on expedition, the powerful lessons of the natural world create a perfect, backdrop for inspiration and transformation.
Adventure Immersions
Adventure immersions provide us with multiple opportunities to shape each day and be influenced by the experiences we choose. We begin by discussing which outdoor skills a client wishes to learn and then create a plan around the goals. Once in the field, we have many options for where, when, how long, how far, and how hard we go. We can travel in an expeditionary way, such as, backpacking, river running, biking, paddling, carrying all that we need with us to explore and to thrive in the environment we have chosen.
Immersions guide us to embrace the ever-changing elements, adjusting our plans and our goals. Adaptability, agility, and flexibility come into play. These trips help us to manage and often eliminate the unnecessary burdens of thoughts and feelings about the world “back home”. We focus on our basic needs—stay dry, stay warm, stay hydrated, stay fed—our minds clear and our senses are sharpened. We are in the moment, each step, each movement, each breath helping us to be more comfortable in our own skin.
As each moment passes, we are able to look back at our progress. We can see clearly the path behind us and the challenges we have overcome. We can adjust our goals to be more in alignment with our surroundings and the influences of the weather, the terrain, and our mutual experiences. We grow to trust one another very quickly. We look out for each other and share the burden and the joy. We grow. We change.
Camping Adventures
We also utilize a fireside model, where we stay at a campsite and/or access van-life. With this model, we have more time and energy to focus on technical skills development, such as ancestral skills, climbing, paddling, surfing, biking, and bushcraft. Having a home base often makes things a little more comfortable, especially for beginners, and provides opportunities to potentially access awareness and growth. Clients will often take time to craft, journal, practice skills one-on-one with a guide, do step-work, and/or map out goals and visions for their future. In addition, this time allows us to easily able to integrate clinical supports, coaches, family members and anyone else on the client’s treatment team. These are often tangible works for them to take home and to share with their therapists, mentors, families, and refer to and reflect on as examples of their willingness to grow and change.
These are our most impactful experiences. Ultimately, AR immersions are an active and intentional way for clients to write their own story. To create an experience for themselves that will have a lasting and profound effect on their sense of self, their place in the world and their dreams. The bonds they make with their guide(s) can last a lifetime. This is why we go.
The Science on Why We Go
The psychological and physiological benefits of guided immersive experiences outdoors is not anecdotal, it’s scientifically-based. The research reveals many ways in which outside adventures can benefit us. Specifically, one study from UBC notes that time in nature can increase feelings of happiness and ameliorate symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, access to natural, green spaces is an important component of our mental health. Even viewing images of natural spaces can have an impact on our state of mind. Furthermore, studies reveal a positive impact on mental health outcomes, including increasing affective and cognitive functioning. Affective benefits signify a notable decrease in anxiety, rumination, and negative affect, and preservation of positive affect as well as a marked increase in memory. These are the direct results of simply being in natural spaces.
When it comes to Adventure Recovery coaching and guidance in the field there are many hats we wear. In addition to the technical guiding and the recovery coaching component, individuals learn real-life skills in real time. These skills are lifelong and empower clients to take their own well-being into their hands through lifestyle choices. Also, our team refers for a continuum care plan and clinical oversight to ensure experiences are sustained and expanded upon post-experience.
Client Perspective
“I needed to get a break, away from everything happening in my life but my support team didn’t think I needed inpatient, so we researched options. My therapist recommended a wilderness immersion and reached out to AR. The crew was flexible and open to what worked for me. We spent six days outside, camping, hiking, whitewater rafting, climbing, and did a fire ceremony. We got to choose activities that felt natural to me. I’d been depressed and anxious and just felt unsure and raw. By the end of day one I was feeling almost calm. I woke to the birds and a crackling fire. My nerves can run high but the AR team made me feel safe and supported, which is really important to me. I stay in touch with my AR Guides, and we are planning a surf trip in the spring. The days away from it all, off social, learning how to be comfortable outside, in my own skin, changed my life. This is why I went.”—Andrea* (name changed to protect privacy), AR client, age 18
Positive Outcomes
When we immerse outside, we see positive outcomes and results in various ways. To start, simply having the support of another person, 24-hrs at a time, means relationships are forged by building trust and camaraderie right away. Studies find guidance in mentorship generates positive outcomes, both for the mentee and mentor.
There is something very real about the fact that while our current lived experience in society happens in a “natural setting”, the foundation of our species is one of a far greater connection with the earth. The wisdom practices and ancestral tools that AR uses in the field are a testament to the remarkable impact we can have when we untether from technology and enact traditional ways of being. We set camp, harvest wood, build a fire, cook a meal, and move with the rhythms of the day. Our internal compass can reset, unfettered by external influences or intentions. The focus becomes the here and now. Our field of awareness tunes in. We can savor the moment and be here now. Studies show that the capacity for this type of presence and reverence is very beneficial for one’s state of mind. It makes us feel good, period.
Learning to be comfortable in our own skin, without escaping the present with alcohol, drugs, or any other form of maladaptive coping mechanism, is what it’s all about. We don’t always learn this growing up. Many of us had parents or caregivers who never learned how to simply care for themselves—or worse, were victims of abuse or trauma. This is our shared experience that we are evolving from. There are clear-cut skills for this evolution, and they span from self-awareness, self-care, self-regulation, and self-love, to esteem, confidence, and goal achievement. It’s a journey that we’re all navigating, together. And time outside brings it all into focus.