Canadian Wild Dogs

My encounters with wild dogs in Canada from Coyotes to the hound of the Baskervilles... coming soon to this space.

Definitions of Adventure Therapy

Extract taken from the BCAP web site:
A brief working description (*adapted from Ringer, 2002) Adventure therapy is a field that is about 40 years old, it grew out of the outdoor and wilderness adventure movement of the early 1960’s and has quickly evolved into a mode of practice that occurs in outdoors, in remote natural settings and sometimes indoors. Adventure therapy involves the combination of physically and psychologically demanding activities, usually (but not always) conducted in a group setting. Adventure therapy is usually based on the principles of experiential education, but draws on traditions from counselling, psychology, social work, and education. Gillis and Thomsen (1996: 10) offered a broad definition of adventure therapy: “A global view of adventure therapy as one aspect of the larger field of experiential therapies is included in the following definition points: An active, experiential approach to group [family and individual] psychotherapy or counselling; although it is acknowledged that much work goes on in one-to-one conversations between therapist and client while involved in an activity such as a ropes course element; utilising an activity base, (cooperative group games, problem solving initiatives, trust building activities, high adventure (ropes courses, white water, rock climbing, etc.), outdoor pursuits and/or wilderness expeditions); employing real and or perceived (physical and psychological) risk as a significant clinically significant agent to bring about desired change; making meaning(s) (through insights that are expressed verbally, non-verbal, or unconsciously that lead to behavioural change) from both verbal and non-verbal introductions prior to (eg, front-loadings) and discussions following (eg de-briefings) the activity experience; punctuating isomorphic connection(s) (how the structure of the activity matches the resolution of the problem) that significantly contribute to the transfer of lessons learned into changed behaviour. The nature of the adventure activities that are conducted as part of adventure therapy programmes vary widely and included: expeditions walking, cycling, rock climbing abseiling (rappelling), group initiatives, cooperative games, ropes courses, caving, canoeing, rafting, sailing, surfing, swimming, scuba diving, snorkelling, wind surfing or other activities. The outdoor and adventure activities and associated human interactions are usually conducted in groups (Kimball and Bacon, 1993) where the intervention is based on an integration of principles derived from psychology, sociology, education and other disciplines that form the process of human change and learning (Bandoroff 1992a). The goals of each adventure therapy intervention are developed in response to client needs and each activity is conducted in ways to maximise therapeutic outcomes for clients. Common goals include re-socialisation, treating substance abuse, providing remedy for dysfunctional interaction with others, and improving clients’ management of their own emotional and social lives (Gerstein, 1991). Relationships with nature are a central aspect of the outdoor experience. This relationship has always been considered a key component of outdoor education and can be seen in environmental education provisions that are often a key aspect of outdoor education programmes (see Martin, 2007). A focus on the relationship with nature within therapeutic applications of the outdoor experience has meant that more recently terms such as nature therapy and eco-therapy have been coined (see Clinebell 1996; Burns 1998; Beringer, 2003; Berger, 2006;). These terms are often underpinned by eco-psychology concepts and recognise how relationships with nature have healing possibilities and applications range from example, nature guided therapy (Burns, 1998) through to horticultural gardening (Simson & Straus, 1998). It could be argued, therefore, that a more inclusive term for practices would be outdoor adventure therapy, as relationships with nature are a key aspect of any outdoor experience and the emphasis can be placed on these interactions. A debate on whether the term should be expanded upon for future work of the ATIC will continue at 5IATC. Adventure therapy is not a coherent field of endeavour that is recognised by the general public or by people in the helping professions (Berman, 1995). Considerable diversity of opinion also exists among practitioners as to the nature of adventure therapy. The central tenets of the practice of adventure therapy are that it involves the application of ‘adventure is potentially open to a wide range of interpretations A further ambiguity lies in the way that adventure is integrated with therapy to form a unique field of endeavour. Please note this defintion is only provided as an intial guide and should not be seen as a definitive defintion. A wide range of perspectives impact upon any defintion and outdoor and adventure therapy is open to different interpretations, especially as such an approach continues to evolve. However, the above defintion should offer an intial framework to understanding current ideas and perspectives.

Mount Sinai in search of the Tristram's Crackle but I found something else instead

What I am about to share with you is my truth and I would like you to keep an open mind. In 1999, I took part in a charity walk for MENCAP this required me to raise over £3000 and to trek across the Sinai Desert completuing at Mount Sinai. During the trek I encountered many first time experiences some of which I will share with you later in different posts to this one.

At the end of the trek the group wanted to visit the monastery located at the base of Mount Sinai whereas I wanted to go birdwatching and hopefully find Tristram's Crackle and Sinai Rosefinch.

I had a choice of routes to take which was either go the camel route or take the trail up through the mountain. The Big Man (my creator as I like to call him) wanted me to take the trail, I remember feeling some resistance about taking this route that at first I could not find the trail, so I decided if I could not find it I would go for the camel route instead, which was to simply hire a camel and jump on its back and let the camel do the work for me. As turned around to go back because I had decided I could not find the trail, suddenly there it was right before my eyes, why had I not seen it before?

So off I set, up the trail along the way I was guided to pick up a round stone smaller than my hand and to break it open, this I did revealing crystals inside it. I was then told I would be guided as too what to do with the pieces later. It was a long old walk up the trail part the way up there were some steps located at the start was a man made entrance. Well, I found the Sinai Rosefinch along with the Tristram's Crackle and I was extremely happy finding these beautiful birds, but I was also curious as to what else I would find at the top.

At the top there was a building and while I waited for the rest of the group to arrive (by the way they took the camel route) I decided that I would have a look around at one point I edged my way along the side of the building which had a very narrow ledge, so narrow that I could just about stand on it.

With my back fully pressed against the wall because of my fear of heights I slowly made my way to the corner of the building and from there I could see it was a long way down. As I stood there for a few moments I suddenly realised that I was not afraid of the height which was easily in excise of 500 to 600 hundred feet my fear of heights had disappeared.

Later when the group had joined me I sat down to savour the experience I just had, when suddenly I realised that I could see one of the group’s aura, this was the first aura I had seen in colour and as I became more aware of it, it disappeared as suddenly has it had appeared. Shortly afterwards I was guided to give out the pieces of crystals to members of the group, one guy said to me that’s exactly what he had been waiting for and another asked me to join her on one of the rocks. I did just that laying beside her, enjoying the sun and each others company.

This was a truly amazing experience for me, one that gave an understanding of the power of my creator, and one that helped me see things differently, one that was truly unforgettable and one that will continue to be with me for ever.

The story does not end there; continue to watch this space…

All alone in the world in the land that time forgot.

I was up in the north of Belize jointly leading a group, canoeing into a mangrove swamp of what was to be a two day trip, to look for Flamingo's which were suspected to be breeding in that area.

While I was cutting my way through the mangroves I had the distinct feeling that this was the first time that any human had ever stood on this part of the earth, of course I have no way of proving this only to tell you what I felt and it was a feeling that I had never experienced before nor since.Sometime after we had to look for a place to rest up for the night so we canoed through the many channels until we broke into a large open area, which was dotted with small islands. One of which we chose as our camp for the night.

As night time fell and the camp was all set up, we thought it would be good to just paddle out into the middle of the area we where in, and just to drift along in our canoes looking at the stars. Every now and then we would turn on our torches in response to splashes in the water only to catch glimpses of several sets of eyes looking back at us. The night sky was amazing, no light population, and no noise pollution too be heard either. Eventually we turned in for the night.

Early in the morning as I lay awake in my sleeping bag, the rest of the group were sound asleep still and all I could hear was the rustling of the leaves in the gentle breeze as it passed over my face. I could hear the birds singing and the odd splash as a fish broke the surface of the water. I felt I was all alone in the world, in the land that time forgot and then in the distance I heard a plane it was a twine prop and as it got closer I looked up and watched it pass overhead.

I felt I wanted to get their attention by jumping up and down, shouting and waving my arms just like you in the films, but of course I knew they would not see me let alone hear me, and as the plane slowly disappeared into the distance my world fell silent to the wind, the birds and the water and once again I was alone in the world in the land that time forgot.

The Dance of the Beautiful Hummingbirds

I was in Belize 1998 working as the logistics manager for Raleigh International. One day I was driving down the Hummingbird Highway to the south of Belize on trip to recover one of our boats which had broken down.

On route I decided to stop for a rest by a river and of course to get some birding in as well. I was sitting on the spare wheel of Landrover relaxing when I was privileged to witness two hummingbirds dancing with each other.

Dancing is the only way to describe what they were doing, later when I shared this experience with the others on my return. The only way I could explain what I the hummingbirds looked like (which still does not do them justice) is as follows.

Imagine if you will.

Diamonds, Ruby’s, Sapphire’s and Emeralds on wings, this is how these hummingbirds appeared to me in that moment, as they danced around me, just to be in the presence of these magnificent birds was truly a wonder I have never forgotten and never will.

This experience also gave raise to the Hummingbird Meditation that I sometimes use when working with groups.

The Drum Stalk working with families and addictions

Continuing from my last article on Natural Awareness and the game called ‘Meet a tree’, I wish to present to you another game which is called the ‘Drum Stalk’ this game is a lot of fun to play with your family and friends in your local woods or even when camping out, it can be played at night as well, playing in the dark produces different experiences for the participants, for example they appear to relax a lot more and are less distracted. My aim is also to describe in brief how I use it as an intervention for people with addictions. The purpose of the game is to help increase the level of awareness both internal and external for an addict seeking active recovery.

The first game is always done raw, which means they will get to the drum by using their hearing to locate it and some will be convinced that the drum moved during the game when in fact it has not, what they are experiencing is the sound of the drum bouncing of the trees giving the impression that the drummer is moving around, this is the point were I get them out of the head and into the heart by getting them to understand that not all the information (i.e. the sound of the drum) they are getting is being interpreted correctly.

The game is then played again this time in peripheral vision and in a heart space the drum now gets beaten every sixty seconds and as each game is played the time between drum beats, increases even to the point when there is only one beat to get the game started and then no more beats after that, to peoples astonishment the majority find the drum, not every group reaches this level. I judge each situation separately which is based on how the group or individuals respond to the games. I have even removed their sight-guides during a game without them being aware and the majority are still able to complete the task, for the sight-guides this raises many questions and the sceptics among them certainly have lots of questions, the game can and does bring up lots of emotions, which I and their peers, then work with them in terms of their addiction and old behaviours, there have been times when the game does not get finished because it requires that we (the group) process the emotions it has brought up for them.

The whole point of this game is to challenge their behaviour in a safe way, but in a way that it is so out of the box that it raises questions hopefully motivating them to seek the answers to their questions. I have very few rules when playing the Drum Stalk I observe how the group or individuals are responding to the game and I act accordingly with an intervention. For family and friends the game is played for fun with a level of awareness taking place, were as for addictions the game may not even finish in terms of actually playing the game to its physical completion, issues may arise which requires immediate attention which I process using the power of the group to help the group and individuals reach a new understanding of themselves and it is only done if the person wants to go there as it has to be for their higher good.

One rule I do have is that if other professionals wish to observe how Natural Awareness works. I ask that they do so by taking part and not by being passive observers from the sideline, it is important that they encounter similar experiences to what the addicts are experiencing. However if an addict does not want to take part in Natural Awareness they do not have to as it is about keeping them safe. I do however, try to encourage them to observe from the sideline as I believe they can gain as much from this experience as taking part, in fact I have seen patients later joining in Nature Awareness having either observed the first game or having seen and heard the effect it has had on their peers later on in rehab.

Natural Awareness has been shown to create a bridge between how we perceive our world and how we experience it, this opens us up to a new understanding of ourselves, and in terms of addicts if they are willing it helps them to recognise their old behaviour, thereby creating an opportunity to change, consider if you will what (Dorell, 2006) a consultant psychiatrist working in a 12-Step treatment programme for addictions had to say about Natural Awareness “it was able to create the bridge that we were unable to create… enabling them to respond to more traditional treatment methods”. Mortensen (2006) a 12-Step counsellor had the following to say “I highly recommend… nature awareness… not only in the field of addiction; I feel any part of the population could benefit from this programme”.

He continues by saying that “It works on the spiritual side of the disease, which is hard to deliver to the patients… Nature Awareness workshops have been of great help to the treatment team it has helped us to explore areas that we would never have got by conventional therapies” (Mortensen, 2006). While (Ward, 2007) an independent counsellor, referring to Jackie (her client), who had also taken part in Natural Awareness, stated that it was an “Integral part of her recovery… which focused on the here and now”. We can now see that Nature Awareness can be used in a verity of ways.

This is also a great game to play with your children and a great bonding exercise here is what one parent had to say about the game and what it meant for him and his son. “When Geoff first mentioned we was going to do the drum stalk I was intrigued, the thought of being in the woods blindfolded and devoid of my main sense, my eyesight was going to be something I have never done before! I spend a lot of time in the woods teaching bushcraft skills so I feel comfortable and at ease there and the thought of having my other senses heightened by removing one was interesting to me to say the least”.

JP continues with “My self and my son Connor both took part in the drum stalk and I was amazed at how much I saw not with my eyes but with my senses, for example at one point as I walked through the wooded area I stopped as I could feel something close (you have to do it to believe it!) I saw an orange glow in front of me, sounds weird I know but stick with me! I took a couple of steps to my side and walked around the what seemed to me to be a tree, once the drum stalk had finished and we all had reached our goal, my son said how amazed he was that I stopped at a stump of a tree! I could still see the trees energy before me it was like the trees roots had not realised the tree had been felled! A most strange feeling”.

Connor JP’s son when it was his turn to be blindfolded and to take part in the game it would appear he too had produced some amazing events as JP describes what happen “at one point he was walking towards a low branch, I quietly reached over and lifted it from his path and allowed him to continue, it was as if he was laser guided watching him pick a track through the woodland to the direction of the beat of the drum, when he reached his goal Geoff asked Connor what he had experienced he said two things that stick in my mind, he said he could see a glowing track in his minds eye and he felt it was the right thing to follow it and also at one point he saw a glowing object reach in front of him and move something from his path! Now this all may seem a little too fantastic to the uninitiated but Geoff gave me something that day, he gave me and my son the ability to trust, to trust our senses and our selves”.

In conclusion JP had this to say “if you ever get the chance to spend time actually doing and playing nature awareness games… I suggest you embrace it and take the opportunity, but go with one thing, and that’s an open mind”. JP

I have observed many addicts encountering new experiences that helped them to either engage or re-engage with their treatment-programme, in particular with the spiritual aspect of the programme. A counsellor in active recovery had this to say about the Drum Stalk. “Nature awareness was 50% of my recovery”.

I would now like to briefly visit the issue of eating-disorders were it is generally believed that they do not do well in a wilderness setting. However Rust (2008) describes how Rosie (a client) explained how her thinking becomes stuck in the lead to a binge and then narrows when she binges, for Rosie the same issues go round and round until she is unable to find a way out, then when her frustration reaches its height Rosie stops thinking and the binge takes over. (p.76). According to Rust, what helped Rosie stay centred were her trips out into nature (external) and “…her journeys into her inner-nature” (p.77). With eating-disorders there are areas of ambiguity and inadequate evidence.

The following accounts are my own personal observations and on the experiences expressed by Mary and Janice (both anorexics) while playing the ‘Drum Stalk’ in a local woodland near our rehab centre. Mary said that for the first in her life she had listened to her body, and Janice related her experience of the frustration she felt while caught up in brambles as the same frustration she feels when she is binging (see Rust, 2008).

Because Janice had been able to get herself out of this situation, she believed the experience might help her in her recovery. In Janice’s case the initial frustration she felt in the brambles might be seen in the context of a cognitive de-construction? However, she believed, that as a direct result of her experience of getting herself out of the brambles after some considerable time, meant for her, that nature might help her get into active-recovery, this experience may have allowed for, a cognitive re-construction to take place?

According to Greenway (2000) 57% of women compared to 27% of men “… stated that a major goal… was to “come home” to nature” (p.129), it would appear that both Mary and Janice by shifting their thinking may have had a meaningful and reflective sense of awareness in fact from what they said it would appear that they increased their level of awareness rather than narrowing it.

It is not suggested that Natural Awareness has the answers to this complex addiction (or indeed addiction as whole), however compared to wilderness-therapy both Mary and Janice it would seem were better placed with Natural Awareness by doing the Drum Stalk in a local woodland, were they also had the safety of their rehab-centre to process events within a controlled-environment, this is where the Field and Residential Counsellors can work together complimenting each others work for the greater good of the addict.

In Conclusion

According to Dorell (2006), “in the scientific community, experiences like Nature Awareness are still widely unknown and unexplored. I strongly believe though… this kind of experience is able to create the missing link between them and a life of emotional fulfilment”.

References:
Greenway, R. (1995). The Wilderness Effect and Ecopsychology. In T. Roszak., M. E. Gomes & A. D. Kanner (Eds.), Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth Healing the Mind (pp. 122-135). The University of California Press.
Dorell, K (personal communication, February 13th, 2006).
Kaagman, P (personal communication, July 22nd, 2007).
Mortensen, T (personal communication, February 12th, 2006).
Ward, G (personal communication, June 26th, 2007).
Rust, M. (2008). Nature Hunger. Eating problems and consuming the Earth. The British Psychological Society: Counselling Psychology Review, 23, (2), 70-79.

Merlin and the young man's anger

Merlin often helps me with my sessions, because sometimes people do not want to, or cannot bring themselves to, or do not know how to tell you what is going on for them.

However they often can express themselves to Merlin.

I was once working with a young man who was feeling quite angry about something and on this occasion Merlin had become quite aggressive, this is something she does not normally do, certainly not around others.

I became aware that she was responding to the young man's feelings, so I decided to talk to him through Merlin. I asked her "Merlin what is going on for you, why are you so angry you are not normally like this." I got the young man to also engage on the same level and we were able to talk about anger through Merlin.

She played her part wonderfully.

That's the power of Nature, Merlin had sensed his anger and responded in a way that allowed me to work with him through her.