Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors

Louise Slater is an educational consultant at The Price Group and is the parent of a former wilderness student. Louise shares the story of her family's struggles with different treatment options before deciding to place their son in a wilderness therapy program in Georgia in 2004. Louise tells us about what her family's wilderness experience was like, what she and her family learned from the proce...

Josh Flaherty is Executive Director of Adventure Recovery (AR). Josh's love for adventure began as a child when he traveled to national parks with his family. After college, he pursued a path as a rock band manager, including Motley Crue. Although successful, he struggled with addiction. In treatment, Josh participated in an outdoor program with AR, which reignited his early passions, and he never...

In this second controversies episode, we explore the history of more controversies related to the field. We review the history of staff training and wages for field guides. We explore why programs are expensive and discuss resources to help families pay for treatment. We look into the safety of wilderness therapy programs and review research related to risk in the field. Included is a follow-up co...

In this special two-part episode, we explore the history of controversies related to the field. Part 1 has five segments. We discuss the outdoor aspect of wilderness therapy and how did it all begin. We review boot camps and wilderness therapy and why they are often confused. We look into the research in the field and who funds this research, and why. We discuss transporting young people to wilder...

Jessica Dallman is the founder of Natural Wisdom Counseling .  Jessica's journey into the field began at a young age by being raised by veterinarian parents and growing up on a rural vet clinic. Jessica would take a "transformational" Outward Bound course in high school and would go on to attend college, teaching deaf people on a Navajo reservation, and then onto Naropa University for a master's d...

Chaim Livneh, Senior Staff for Juvenile Probation Services for Israel. Chaim's journey into the field started as a child in the U.S. and then to Israel when his family emigrated there when he was a teen. Chaim shares how being in a tank corps helped him to get closer to the wilderness and how he found healing in a greenhouse when he had cancer. Chaim shares how Israel views wilderness therapy and...

Kenneth R. Rosen is the author of "Troubled: The Failed Promise of America's Behavioral Treatment Programs" and is an award-winning journalist who has written for the New York Times. Ken's journey into the field began as a teen when he was transported to a wilderness program in Upstate New York. Ken shares his story of going from a wilderness program to a therapeutic school and other treatment pro...

Tony Alvarez is the founder of Alvarez Consulting . Tony's journey into the field starts in the Philippines, where he was born and raised before coming to the U.S. Tony shares his story of being part of social justice in the 1970s to helping marginalized young people in Michigan with adventure work for much of his career. Tony has mentored many of the leaders in the field through his work as a col...

Aaron Leonard is Campaign Representative for Sierra Club Military Outdoors . He became involved in the field while serving in the U.S. Army when he participated in an Outward Bound for Veterans expedition, which would start a chain of events that would change his life. He shares this story and more about what caused him to retire from the army after 27 years to begin leading and promoting outdoor...

Will Dobud is a lecturer at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He is co-editor of the book "Outdoor Therapies" and is the founder of True North Expeditions located in Australia. Will shares his journey into the field that began at age 8 when he agreed to attend summer camp. So began a long journey of "being in the dirt," including stints at Alldredge Academy, Potomac Pathways as well as Alaska...

Bobbi Beale is Co-founder of Life Adventures for All Consulting which supports programs, agencies, and organizations to achieve their goals for improving the lives of their clients by providing training, consulting and technical assistance to implement Adventure Therapy locally. Bobbi's journey into the field began at a young age as she grew up on her family's campground. Bobbi shares collaboratio...

Russell Chamberlain is the founder of LifeSTREAM Therapy located in Portland, OR. LifeSTREAM's motto is "Life Success Through Relationship in Experiential & Adventure Modes." Russell has worked in the field for almost 40 years from being a field guide to a field director to an outpatient clinician. He has worked at NOLS, Outward Bound, as well as for programs all over the nation. He shares his jou...

Dr. Nevin Harper is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria and co-edited the books "Outdoor Therapies" and "Nature Based-Therapies." Nevin shares his journey from being raised in rural Canada to working as a field guide and running wilderness programs. He shares why he decided to become a graduate student in the U.S. and his time assisting at the Outdoor Behavioral Research Center. N...

Kim Sacksteder is co-founder of Adventure-Therapist.com and residential clinical supervisor of the adventure therapy program at the Buckeye Ranch in Ohio. Kim shares her journey into the field and how she has worked tirelessly for over 20 years to help the field evolve by volunteering. Kim is a true servant leader and received the 2020 Heart of Adventure Therapy Award from the Therapeutic Adventur...

Tim Walsh is the founder of Adventure Recovery in CT. Tim's journey into the field started at a young age due to trauma and addiction. Tim shares that in his 20's while in treatment he "walked through fire" to realize that mentors in his life including a mobster, a judge, and a friend's mother had changed the course of his life from going to jail to a path of service. He shares his journey and how...

Emily Isaacs is the founder of Emily Isaacs Counseling in Colorado. Emily's journey into the wilderness therapy field began in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco where she grew up. Emily shares stories including going from being a city kid to a field guide at Open Sky to contributing to diversity in the outdoors as the Executive Director of Women's Wilderness. Emily shares her work with...

Patrick McMillion is the Clinical Director of Adventure Works of Dekalb which is a non-profit adventure therapy program located in Illinois. Patrick began his journey into the field at the age of 3 when he vividly recalls camping with his father. Patrick shares this story and many more including his time as the Chair of the Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group of the Association of Experientia...

Kimberly Beck is the founder of Relational Rewilding in CO. Kimberly shares that she was obsessed with animals and nature as a child. Her passion grew into facilitating the relationship between people and nature, people and animals, and people and people in various ways. Kimberly has designed and led environmental programs as a Naturalist and a Certified Interpretive Guide. She would go earn a Mas...

In celebration of the 100th episode of Stories from the Field, Dr. Will White, tells his story about how he became involved in wilderness therapy and how the Stories from the Field podcast, book, and dissertation came into being.  He shares how his family, scouting, college professors, and Buddhist teachers led him to the path of wilderness therapy. He reveals how he became involved in starting Su...

Dr. Maurie Lung is one of the foremost leaders in the field of adventure therapy and is the founder of Life Adventures Counseling and Consulting . She has over 25 years of experience as an adventure therapist, business owner, author, mentor, evaluator, and university instructor. Maurie shares many stories including how she was inspired as a child to help people through adventures in the outdoors a...

Vicenzo Narciso grew up in Seattle, Washington, and struggled as a teenager in following rules at home and school. He also began using substances and regularly skipped school. Early one morning two individuals transported Vicenzo to Utah, a place that he could not even find on a map, and he was enrolled at Elements Wilderness Therapy. This is how Vicenzo began his journey to treatment and eventual...

Hansen Hundahl is an undergraduate student at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, N.H. When Hansen was a high school freshman he was struggling with his parent's divorce, substance use, and learning challenges. Hansen shares his journey of change that began one night when he was transported to BlueFire Wilderness Therapy program in Idaho. Hansen attributes his change to the field guides who tau...

Dr. Lee Gillis is a psychology professor at Georgia College. Lee shares stories about his friend and mentor, Karl Rohnke, who passed away last week. Karl impacted the field in many ways including writing classic texts such as "Cranking out Adventure", "Cowtails and Cobras", "Silver Bullets" and others. Lee also explores the definitions of adventure and wilderness therapy and how he was recently ho...

Chris Squier is the Family Services Coordinator at Black Mountain Academy in N.C. As a teen, Chris was transported from Florida to New York and attended Adirondack Leadership Expeditions due to behavioral challenges. Chris shares his story of difficulties in the change process as after wilderness he returned home and continued to struggle. He enrolled in Four Circles in N.C. as a young adult and a...

Connor Boyle is the founder of Revival Wilderness Therapy located in New Hampshire. Connor shares his story of having a successful law career in Boston while suffering from anxiety/depression combined with alcoholism. He tried traditional residential treatment but it did not help. He shares how went to a wilderness therapy program at the age of 33 which was the "most impactful" experience of his l...