Vision Quest as a Rite of Passage for to-days Modern Youth
One Practitioners working perspective 

My interest and involvement in Vision Quests has always been with me I just did not know it. As a young lad I was constantly trying to understand who I was and what if any was the purpose of my existence. Not that this was anything new as no doubt human kind have struggled with the same questions since the first homo sapiens had their first line of thought.
However, because no one could ever give me a rational explanation that seemed to answer my desire to know the true meaning of life and in particular, mine, I sometimes behaved and acted inappropriately in order to get some sort of answer even though it never achieved the desired result.
One of the cardinal throes of my life as a child, centred around the meaning of death and what it really meant for me when my time came to experience it first hand. My interest in death was two fold. First I had a maternal grandmother who was a well known medium and spiritualist who would regale me as a very young lad with stories about her take and understanding of spirits, souls, the after life, planes of existence and so on and secondly I had a ‘catholic’ father who was espousing atheist beliefs saying that death was the end of everything. Given that I viewed both as rational and important people in my life, it is not hard to see why I harboured much confusion about death and the state of dying.
During a period when my father was away at sea (he was still serving in the Royal Navy), I took the opportunity to ask my Gran to explain to me the point of my existence and if there was any purpose to my life did she know what it was.
Against my mother’s better judgement, my Gran agreed to hold a mini séance with me so she could ask her spirit guide (a Sioux Indian named White Star). I was not sure if I wanted to participate in such a venture but after a short period of doubt, my inquisitive senses took over and I agreed.
Suffice to say that after the séance, my Gran told me that her spirit guide told her that I would live to a ripe old age no matter what path I took in life and that I had a distinct purpose, a goal if you like that I needed to achieve but that she did not know what this was.
Because this never gave me an answer to my original question of what was the purpose of my existence and who was,  I allowed this event to pass into the historical recess of my panglossian outlook on human existence.

It was a few years later when I experienced my first taste of near death when I climbed solo up a limestone cliff face in Malta just for a bet.*  One of the after effects of such an experience was that I realised that being close to death actually made me feel alive in a perverse way and so I set out on a life time of chasing death, teasing it to call just so I could laugh in its face given that I had taken on board the earlier statement that I would live to a ripe old age no matter what journey in life I took. I soon took on an arrogance that could be interpreted as a death wish but in reality was a warped way of trying to find an answer to that original question that still bugged me – the meaning of my life and my existence and how could I get to know the real ‘me’.
* This and other tales of near death experiences that have occurred over a fifty year period of outdoor adventure can be found in my autobiography “Climbing with Angels and Ghosts”. ISBN 978-0-9556989-4-1
In reality, this yearning or desire to ‘know myself’ was in effect a life’s quest in pursuit through my potentially dangerous adventures in a belief that my goal was to understand my human connection to members of my family, my local community and my peer group. With hindsight, just how this would come about whilst solo rock climbing is beyond me now, but back then it seemed the right thing to do!
What I do remember is wanting to know what value others put on my existence. Clearly not very much by the way teachers often made me sit outside the class and write telephone numbers from the directory because they thought I was too stupid to learn anything. Not that this had anything to do with my form of learning barrier which in to-days modern world we call dyslexia! Back then I was a waste of their time so they did not want me in their class as they said I would only end up being a road sweeper so why should they bother!
With the benefit of hindsight I can now see that it was not death that I was inviting or teasing but life itself in an attempt to find the real ‘me’ that was both elusive and contradictory in nature. I can now see that back then it was important to me to know for what purpose I existed and despite how many times I saw a Month Python sketch about the Meaning of Life, whilst I laughed and enjoyed the humour, it did little to answer any question that occupied my mind almost daily.
However, this drive, this sometimes all consuming desire to search for answers both internally and externally helped me in my professional work as over the years as a social worker a youth & community worker and an outdoor instructor, I worked in many youth work settings both here in the U.K. and in main land Europe and whilst this work in itself included a mixture of conventional as well as the unconventional concept of youth work, it always involved helping young people have some knowledge or understanding of who they were and what value they had to themselves and others.

Despite my own search for the same answers I always felt that the answer was right in front of my nose, so obvious that I just could not see it. I extrapolated this belief system into thinking that if this was how it was for me, perhaps this is the same for others especially the youth who I devoted my working life to helping. This thought preyed heavily on my mind for several decades as I struggled to discover how to access the information if it was right in front of me constantly.
But no matter the training course I undertook, no matter the professional and personal development workshops I attended, nothing materialised and I started to give up hope of ever knowing any answers to any of the questions that perpetually swam inside my thought processes.
However, this all changed in the early 1990’s when I found myself delivering a workshop in Victoria, on Vancouver Island on “Utilising Nature and the Natural Environment as a Tool to Aid Partial or Full Recovery from Unresolved Trauma” to a group of international adventure therapists. At the workshop was a Canadian from the Haida People’s First Nation called Daniel ‘Goose Feather’ who was an educator of his people in ‘the old ways of their ancestors’ who used the concept of Vision Quests as a rite of passage for their young male warriors.
During the conference whilst we were talking about ancestors and the importance of knowing them and having a connection to them, he asked me if I was happy and contented with my life inside.
I asked him to explain the ‘inside’ bit which he did so eloquently and precisely that it all made sense in a crescendo of feeling and emotions that surged through me and out into the universe where I felt a strong connection to at that precise moment. I replied no although I felt contented on the outside.
He then invited me to address this by doing my own four day Vision Quest later in the year when he would be my guide and mentor. Suffice to say that I agreed and nothing has been the same since especially after making an ‘internal connection’ between my thought processes which controlled my external body and my internal spirit that was the ‘real me’ that in turn was controlled by my thought processes.
Since this significant moment of connectedness to all that ever was, is and will be, I have included similar approaches to my work as a Wilderness Therapist and Adventure based Counsellor and so what follows is an attempt at giving my own thoughts on the value of using Vision Quests as a Rite of Passage for to-days modern youth. It is not a panacea for the ills of society, nor is it the definitive working approach in this field, just my take on it as I see it.

I respect your own thoughts and working perspective irrespective of your professional training or working medium and only offer the following as something to think about, nothing more which is how it should be read and interpreted.
I am always happy to enter into any meaningful dialogue with other practitioners as I see life as a continuous learning journey and one which I am willing to involve myself in and so to stimulate you into thinking or perhaps even responding, I offer you the following article for no other reason that it has always been like an itch that needed to be scratched, and as I’m scratching, here is the result.
Since the dawn of time when homo sapiens walked upright and began to interact as a social animal with all the resultant responsibilities this has entailed through the ages, many individuals have felt a need to undertake meaningful rites of passage as they have moved and grown through stages of development and in particular, from adolescent to adulthood. 
Throughout cultures, generations and ethnic groupings, a wide variety of Rites of Passage have been adopted, some physically painful – face and body tattooing [Maoris of New Zealand],
                                                               

Some potential life threatening – [tree jumping in Vanuatu (New Hebrides)]           
                  

        Some ruthless in their execution – literally [American Indian scalp hunting]
                                           
                                  
Others of a more sedate nature [feather headdress and face painting of the Papuans although head hunting and cannibalism may well have been a collective Tribal Rite of passage at one point in their cultural history].        
And how could we forget the fire walkers of the Indian Sadhus who have to do this Rite of Passage to be accepted into the Brotherhood of Sadhus.

Today in our Western ever demanding, chaotic, changing and materialistic world, we appear to follow other less exotic ‘Rites of Passage’ ceremonies with regards young adolescence moving through their developmental stages towards adulthood – being able to purchasing alcohol, having a driving license, right to vote, taking on hire purchase and credit facilities, purchasing cigarettes, compulsory formal educational stages, and many other modern day events. Of course, unlike those Rites of Passage mentioned in the opening paragraph, these modern day events do little to instil any real sense of ‘belonging’, or real community/societal worth, in fact they do the opposite in my view in that they are in reality only negative elements of existence.
For example, it is not the ‘natural’ coming of age event that is celebrated by our society but rather invoking the law when an individual tries to access this ‘Rite of Passage’ before they are legally entitled to by law.
Currently here in the U.K. we have laws that recognise the difference between an adolescent and an adult, arbitrary yes but non the less enshrined in a legal context. For example, an adolescent can smoke but can’t purchase cigarettes legally until the age of eighteen!
Similarly, young people under the age of 18 can wear a military uniform, carry a weapon that kills but cannot legally purchase alcohol and under certain circumstances, can be prosecuted by the law if found breaking it.
These anomalies pale into insignificance when you realise that you can kill and die legally for your country but you can not have any say in who can represent you in parliament or the government that may send you to kill or be killed.
As it stands, once young people reach the age of 16 they can be legally ejected from the family home and made homeless. They are entitled to have sexual relationships, have children get married even but not entitled to legally go to a cinema and see a film with an 18 certificate!
I  Is it any wonder that the youth of today become confused, perplexed and sometimes very angry at a society that has no clear framework for identifying their ‘adult’ place or status in society but has the best of both worlds in that it sees them when it wants to as young people with no ‘real’ say in how their lives are run and then as adults who should take full responsibility just as an adult is expected to do. This ‘legal’ arbitrary approach does little to instil any feeling of true citizenship or give young people any sense that they ‘belong’ to something that is both meaningful and purposeful and which openly acknowledges and celebrates their transition from adolescent to adult.

Such modern day ‘Rites of Passage’ are in my view, events that do little if anything to harbour any sense of belonging let alone instil any levels of societal worth onto or for the young person.
This is not to say that I am a harbinger of those days when I and my peers had to wait until we were 21 years of age before we ‘got the key to the door’ literally in some cases or even of having to get parents permission to get married and in the case of those of us who were serving in the armed forces back then, having to get our commanding officers permission too! For us back then, reaching the age of 21 meant we were legally entitled to what everyone else in society had  – right to vote, acquire items on hire purchase, leave home, get a mortgage and so on. In effect, it meant having true value and meaning to becoming an adult, leaving the adolescent stage behind forever.
However, such events are better left where they are, in the history books. But here today, without a doubt, we need some form of Rite of Passage that allows young people to grow and develop with a sense of belonging, of self worth not just to themselves or their family, but to their community and society in general especially as they move from adolescent to young adult. As I see it, the law certainly does not offer them any meaningful ‘Rite of Passage’ on any level that is worthy of celebrating. 
Three weeks ago I saw an advert in a Youth Magazine offering young people an opportunity to participate in a “Rite of Passage with a Vision Quest” as a means to helping them understand and accept their rightful place in society as an equal citizen.
As I read the programme content I became aware of two major lines of thought. First I realised that what was being offered was little more than good old outdoor adventure activities such as rock climbing, hiking, camping, ghyll scrambling and canoeing in a wilderness environment in the Scottish Highlands, and second I was confused about what they meant by Vision Quest. Were they one and the same thing, or were they offering two different elements to a single programme? What was the purpose of the Vision Quest if it was separate to the Rite of Passage, or was the Vision Quest The Rite of Passage? If their intention was to help young people go through a Rite of Passage, for what purpose? If it was to mark their development from adolescent to young adult wouldn’t they all have to be the same age i.e. on or near their 18th birthday? Or am I just being pedantic, perhaps even missing the point!
I am not making any claims that what follows is how everyone else sees outdoor programmes let alone the history of it but then this is only a brief excursion from my own point of view into this fascinating question of what is (or is not) a modern day Youth Rite of Passage and what part does a Vision Quest play in it, if at all!
In this respect, I openly acknowledge that I have not even touched on the ethical dimensions of working in this medium with young people e.g. male facilitator working with female participants and vice versa; gender issues; front loading programmes; client led programmes versus facilitator led programmes let alone any philosophical dimensions pertaining to using the wilderness/outdoor/adventure spectrum to effect positive change when most participants will live in cities and towns!
In addition, the article does not even touch on environmental issues, conservation aspects, ecological issues that using the wilderness brings just by being in it or the effects of erosion that the human presence brings to bear on the natural environment.
In acknowledging this, I hope you forgive me and allow me to concentrate on the title of the article by offering my view on the differences between Vision Quests and Rites of Passage constructs.
 
Here we can clearly see that a Vision Quest is something the individual does to effect some change or development from within whereas the Rite of Passage helps individuals make a conscious and physical move from one point in their life to another so that a connection can be felt giving them a sense of belonging and identity in relation to the status as viewed by others.
It is within the Vision Quest that the solo can take place and which can be by its very nature, a Rite of Passage in its own right. However, solo’s can be many different things to many individuals and no two are the same let alone similar as it is in the solo state that the individual has the right to be whoever they want to be in relation to how they see themselves.

The solo also gives the participant the freedom to do nothing with their time or even to ‘pretend’ to have done something if they feel that this is what is expected of them. It is this aspect of the modern day solo approach that worries me not so much an individual doing nothing but the facilitator holding to the belief that participants should do something tangible so they can measure the effectiveness of their programme. Perhaps this thought is based on my own understanding of what a solo constitutes not only for me but for those I am a facilitator to on a wilderness immersion programme as I fully believe that an individual has to have something tangible to do when on a solo rather than just ‘think thoughts’. In this respect, I ask them to write a letter to themselves in the format that they would like to receive from someone who could offer them answers to questions they may have about certain things in their life, or can suggest ways that they could move forward in their life by deciding to do something that is well within their grasp.
Perhaps I am not making myself clearly understood at this point as I find it difficult to put into words a perception I have and which might give the impression that I feel that many facilitators just do not know what they are doing in this area. This is not my intention.
I suppose I am recalling my own childhood educational experiences where teachers held a belief that I was thick, stupid and not worth teaching when in essence they were not tuned into my learning framework nor allowing me to express myself which meant that I had no opportunity to tell them I did not/could not understand what it was that they were trying to teach me.
In this respect I feel that some facilitators expect young people to always know what it is that they are supposed to have thought or felt when on a solo and many just say anything to stop feeling different or the odd one out.
Perhaps it is time to move on from this subject as I find myself getting drawn into an area I do not wish to go within the remit of this article and I may say something that will be misunderstood and taken out of context, such is the power of the written word and I have no intention of getting into any argument or discussion about what is or is not a Solo exercise.
Before we even begin to look at Rites of Passage for modern day youth, let alone the importance of Vision Quests, we need to briefly take a look at what has gone before especially here in the U.K. if for no other reason than to put into context the slowly encroaching concept and acknowledgement that modern day youth need some appropriate Rites of Passage in order to be ‘assimilated’ into society. I use the word assimilate because the true meaning of Rites of Passage means to ‘bring in’, to ‘recognise the sameness’, to ‘become one and the same’, to ‘be an equal part’ of with all that this entails.
In reality it should be an essential way of helping the individual find their rightful place among society and their local community and to achieve equal and appropriate citizenship although even this word can be confusing. For example, who decides when someone has the right to be viewed and acknowledged as an ‘equal citizen’?
What is the criteria for being ‘an appropriate citizen’? what happens if you don’t meet this criteria? At what age can you become an equal and ‘appropriate citizen’? Should it be compulsory for everyone to become a responsible and appropriate citizen? If the answer is yes to this last question, where does freedom of expression lie? What are the penalties (or punishments) for not wanting to aspire to being a ‘responsible and appropriate citizen’?
This all said and done however, we should be mindful that any modern day Rites of Passage must be within the contextual construct of the lifestyle of the young person and not on a ceremony that was relevant a hundred or so years ago. In other words, it has to have real meaning for the young individual and not just to the status quo, i.e. paying lip service to the needs of young people struggling to come to terms with their developmental processes in to-days modern world.
There can be no doubt, that the early days of youth work and especially outdoor adventure programmes, certainly within the United Kingdom, has evolved from the work done by Dr. Kurt Hann, a German Scientist and philosopher who proposed “learning through doing” as a way of building “maturity and character” within the youth population of Europe of his day.
Hann expressed his concerns that individuals and in particular, young people in contemporary western societies – lacked significant, responsible roles, and that instead of receiving increasing levels of responsibility, many received responsibility that was little more than that given to young children.
Hann went on to build programmes based on his belief that experiential education and in particular, within an adventure activity setting, embodied the values of tenacity, responsibility, judgment, self-discipline, and compassion that young people required in order to grow into a responsible adult and worthy citizen.
These programmes [sometimes referred to as Outward Bound] were designed for the general youth population but has since been used across the world with a  wide and diverse clinical population, growing and developing into a multitude of programmes catering for a wide cross section of the community.
For example, in Canada and the United States, youth work in the outdoors is an important component part of adolescent mental health recovery work, and in particular, for those young people who have turned to a wide variety of self-destructive and self-abusive behaviours such as drug and alcohol misuse.

In Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, it is being utilised as the foundation for marginalised youth entering into the employment field, and in New Zealand and Australia, it is widely accepted as a vital part of the overall strategy in motivating positive behavioural change with young people who find themselves marginalised and disenfranchised from family and society due to their inappropriate and anti-social behaviour patterns.
In the U.K. in the 1970’s and 80’s the Government of the day introduced Intermediate Treatment programmes for young people who found themselves in this quadrant of society either through choice or otherwise. Many schemes involved young people participating in 30 day adventure activity programmes based on the Outward Bound model. These programmes were soon put onto the history shelf not because they did not work but because there was no link to the young person’s family/community so that any positive work undertaken on these programmes could be sustained when the young person had completed their 30, 60 or 90 day Intermediate Treatment Order.
In essence, they were dumped back home without any local support systems so they quickly reverted back to their old behavioural traits and life styles. These programmes (and yes I was one who delivered such programmes here in Cumbria back in the early 1970’s) did little to help the individual make any meaningful connection to either their family, their local community let alone society in general but often left them and us wondering what it was all about!
In the 1980’s we saw an emergence of Experiential Educational programmes being run through outdoor programmes many of which were privately owned and operated. Many ran programmes that were targeted at specific groups – sexually abused victims, those who self harmed, those with eating disorders, all female programmes, all male programmes, empowerment groups and so on. Again, some worked whilst others did not. The common denominator was of course, the lack of family/community link for the work to be carried on when the young person was back home, at school, in their family etc. In other words, sustainability was not a word that seemed to be included in any programme being offered the youth of the day.
If we were to look at all the titles various ‘outdoor’ programmes have been given over the past few decades we may be excused for thinking that as a society we hold to the belief that if we keep doing the same thing but change the title, it somehow might give the impression that we are doing something new and radical! Now I accept and acknowledge that some of the following programmes do have specific criteria for being delivered and that in their own right, they have immense value to some participants. It is the outcomes per se that I am talking about here in that many had similar if not the same approach to the same adventure activities.

           Adventure therapy                                    Field studies
 Therapeutic adventure                              Adventure education
 Adventure based Counselling                   Outdoor learning
 Outdoor education                                    Wilderness therapy
 Experiential learning                                 Environmental studies
 Outdoor activities     Outdoor pursuits   
 Eco therapy                                              Extra Curricula activities
 Trainee development programmes           Experiential outdoor education

What springs to mind here is the following quote Attributed to a Roman Centurion, Petronius Arbiter in 210B.C.
 “We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing inefficiency and demoralisation”.
(Petronius  Committed suicide after writing this statement!!)

There can be no doubt, that the ‘human’ need for excitement and challenge can, if unfulfilled, express itself through anti-social behaviour, vandalism, delinquency, criminality, alcohol and drug dependency, aggressive and challenging behaviour.
Youth Work, irrespective of the name we give any outdoor based programmes clearly has the potential to go some way in satisfying this ‘human’ need in a positive and appropriate manner.
We should therefore recognise the contribution experiential education within the adventure activity medium has and still can make in motivating young people to develop their social skills which in turn will allow them to reconnect back to the value of life long ‘learning’ and more importantly, to positive self-discovery and hopefully into meaningful citizenship.
Furthermore, experiential education within an adventure and wilderness medium elicits and encourages a responsible attitude towards excitement and risk which may replace other forms of excitement seeking and the need for a constant adrenalin rush, or of ‘living life on the edge’.
Research clearly shows us that young people who participate in some form of experiential educational adventurous and wilderness activity, have more opportunities to develop a wide variety of essential life skills, for example, leadership, communication and listening skills, making and sustaining inter-personal relationships, all allowing for them to be better equipped to overcome challenges that they will face during their continuing development.
Whilst Outward Bound programmes are still popular and an effective tool to help young people grow and develop as well as discover things about themselves that perhaps they would not otherwise find, there have been many attempts these past four decades to engage those young people in society who feel marginalized, disenfranchised, disaffected and disillusioned about the world, society and community they are an integral part of whether they like it or not, through adventure activity programmes which has on the surface appeared to be something new and different but underneath it is just the same old programme churned out but with a different programme title.
In the past few years we have seen some new programmes, or new programme titles appear, at least new to the U.K. vocabulary as many similar programme contents have been running quietly in the background both here in the UK and abroad such as New Zealand, Australia, U.S.A and Canada. These programme titles include:- Wilderness Therapy, Adventure Therapy, Nature Therapy, Empowerment Therapy and Eco Therapy to name but a few and herein lies the dichotomy.
On the one hand there are practitioners who have been beavering away quietly doing a good job doing what they are doing but not necessarily under the guise of any of the aforementioned titles. Yet, on the other hand if you were to ask a variety of people working in the outdoor industry as to what they believed the differences were between Adventure Therapy, Therapeutic Adventure, Adventure Based Counselling, Wilderness Therapy, Experiential Education and Adventure Education, you would undoubtedly receive just as many different replies as you would people you asked in the first place.
This strange anomaly is not just relevant to outdoor practitioners and academics here in the U.K. but appears to be a question that raises objections, arguments and differences of opinion throughout the modern world where such programmes are implemented, not least because practitioners cannot agree across the board with other practitioners and academics cannot agree across the board with other academics let alone between practitioners and academics, as to what is what and where if any, an overlap of service provision occurs.
It has been my experience over this past few decades that most non adventure practicing academics will generally not agree with an outdoor practitioner who utilises adventure activities within nature and the natural environment no matter what level it is being delivered at. They in general see it as nothing more than  just a programme of outdoor pursuits, adventure activities, fun activities with just a modicum of learning being present. Similarly, many outdoor practitioners view academics with suspicion when they try to voice their opinions about how effective their outdoor work is with individuals and groups irrespective of whether they are young people or adults or that the programme is geared to address specific behaviours or health related issues.
Now there may be a very good reason, historical or otherwise, why two such professional disciplines adopt this line of thought but what is clear, is that practice relies on research findings and outcomes and research relies on evaluating and assessing practice. In essence, one needs the other to be of any value. However, the question that I have heard being asked by colleagues with feet firmly entrenched in both camps is what drives what, i.e. does research drive practice or does practice drive research?

This in itself is a dichotomy of significance and importance and whilst I can not offer any decisive answers to either questions - I myself having delivered both types of programmes in the outdoors i.e programmes based on research and research projects based on practice - I would like to digress a little and take this opportunity to share and explore with you some thoughts that may help you, me and others, to at least come to some united decision even if it is that there is no definitive answer and that both practice and research needs each other equally in order to exist and to be effective.
Again, and this is only my view, that because Wilderness Therapy [WT], Adventure Therapy [AT], Therapeutic Adventure [TA], Nature Therapy [NT] and of course Eco Therapy [ET] are all areas of work that has yet to become an established treatment regimen here in the U.K. for members of the public with metal health issues and for those young people who present inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour patterns* it is not surprising that academics who have yet to psychoanalytically or even psychologically compartmentalise what any of it is or is not, have strong opinions that differ from those held by outdoor practitioners who have been and still are, ‘walking the walk as well as talking the talk’ within their own frame of reference and area of expertise and knowledge.
* Aggression & violence (overtly and covertly); sexually aggressive and/or sexually reactive behaviour; self-harm; eating/sleep disorders; para-suicide and serious risk taking; alcohol and substance addictions; learning difficulties (both educational and behavioural) among many other inappropriate and damaging behaviours to both the individual and society in general.
Of course, those practitioners who have been using the outdoors for many years to work with clients in order to achieve some non physical goal would quickly come to the front and say that Adventure Based Counselling has been going on for decades even under the guise of Outward Bound courses and with moderate success too! I do not dispute this fact.
However, this does not mean that some academics have no idea of what Adventure Based Counselling (or ‘walking the walk’) really entails, it just means that neither camp can agree on any set definition of what or more importantly who, is best placed to deliver Wilderness Therapy, Adventure Therapy and Therapeutic Adventure – outdoor practitioners qualified in specific adventure activities [rock climbing, canoeing, caving, expeditions, bush craft survival along with many other activities] coupled with some understanding of psychoanalytical concepts and constructs, or,  psychotherapist, counsellors and therapists who have some experience or understanding of adventure activities but are not necessarily qualified in leading such adventurous outdoor activities!

Let me give you two examples and you see if you can come to any definitive decision about what I have just said.
Example 1:-
Pete started his professional career as a Youth Worker doing detached youth work on the streets of Liverpool in the early 1980’s. He specialised in working with those young people who were or had been, sexually abused in early childhood. He attended many in-house training courses on the issues and consequences of child sexual abuse, child protection issues, behavioural consequences for young victims in addition to studying to become a child centred counsellor.
As time wore on, he started to take groups of young people off the streets and away camping to the Lake District for weekends and school holidays. He used his skills as a mountain leader, canoeist and rock climber to introduce young people to adventure with the view of helping them raise their self esteem and  self worth, improve their levels of communication, to see the value of experiential learning, and, to look at their presenting behaviour back in their respective families, schools and local communities so they could make informed decisions about changing aspects of it so that it made their lives that little bit more bearable and satisfactory given the hand of cards they had been dealt with at birth.
Within parts of his outdoor programmes, he used a wide variety of therapeutic approaches to engage the young participants, voluntary of course, and occasionally held group counselling sessions around the evening camp fire where he would lead the young people in discussions about their feelings of rejection (from family and society in general) and of the issues and consequences for victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Over a twenty year period, he helped hundreds of young people grow through adolescence into adulthood and whilst some went on to attend colleges and University to pursue a career which would not have happened otherwise, some returned to their living environment and remained unemployed and trapped in cyclical inter-familial abusive behaviour.
Two young participants became qualified youth workers and ran similar outdoor experiential activity programmes for disenfranchised young people in the Wirral and Stockport areas respectively, and one went on to become a qualified mountain leader and canoeist working for an Outward Bound Centre. Without a doubt, the Practitioners intervention programmes had some positive effect on these young people, indeed two that remained unemployed, became voluntary helpers on future camping expeditions and became mentors to other young people experiencing issues and problems they themselves had suffered but had been able to compartmentalise and move on with their lives seeing themselves as survivors rather than as victims.

During a mountaineering expedition with a relatively new group to the Scottish Highlands, one young person committed suicide by taking an overdose of tablets which took everyone by surprise.
The inquest that followed found that the young person took their own life whilst their mental state was unbalanced due to an impending court case where her father was being charged with sexual abuse offences stretching back to her early childhood. For his part, the youth leader/practitioner was pillared in the professional journals and magazines by both academics and psychotherapists alike who said that he had no training to do what he was doing and that in all probability, his intervention and style of programme probably added to the young people’s trauma and anxiety levels.
In addition they made a point of stating publicly that he was not qualified to deal with psychological issues and should never have taken a potential suicide risk along on any outdoor activities programme.
The only people who stood by him were those young people now adults who participated in his earlier programmes

Example 2:-
A behavioural psychologist who was employed at a residential school for disturbed adolescents had some experience of hill walking and mountaineering. They decided as part of their holistic psychological assessment, they would take groups of young people on walking trips to the Welsh countryside around Snowdonia.
A few days after each walking trip he would hold a group session with the participants to discuss a variety of issues similar to that used by the outdoor practitioner mentioned in the previous example.
On one expedition, the group were asked to do a twenty hour solo expedition on the Carneddau mountain range, bivving out in the open. They were asked to keep a diary of their feelings and emotions which they would share at the next group meeting after this exercise.
One young person got lost and a full mountain rescue operation was raised. The young person was found many miles away from the area where they should have been and was suffering from mild hyperthermia, exhaustion and exposure.
The psychological world and the psychoanalytical world of practitioners were horrified to read one of their own dared to take their clients out of the counselling room and to try something that was not an accepted part of their working framework.

The psychologist was again castigated for utilising adventure activities within which to apply their trade so to speak especially by the outdoor world and in particular those qualified mountain leaders/practitioners who said that he had no right to utilise adventure activities as he did not have a mountain leadership certificate nor had he had any formal expedition training. He lost his job and finally moved to the USA where he obtained another job doing wilderness adventure programmes as part of his professional practice as a psychologist.
Who was right? Who was wrong? Who was out of their depth? Who was operating out-with their professional training remit?
In my view, neither, they were both doing a great job and had some bad luck, something child protection agencies and investigations do not pay lip service to unfortunately. Someone has to be blamed for what goes wrong someone has to pay the ferry-man. Why was nothing said about the agencies who employed both practitioners and had agreed to the programmes? Where was their support for their employees? Where was common sense? Could the media not see the valuable work that was being done in both cases or was it just a case of bad news sells and its good to knock a good practitioner down especially when their already emotionally ‘laying on the ground’!
Perhaps this is a good time and place to bring in the debate about the differences between Adventure Therapy (Big ‘T’) and Therapeutic Adventure (Little ‘t’) assuming of course that there is any difference and just as importantly, what are the therapeutic implications of either or both!
To determine this question we need to look at the terminology of both Therapy and Therapeutic as it relates to our understanding. We also need to look in detail at the various approaches and practical use of both. Whilst it is acknowledged generally that any adventure or activity can be deemed therapeutic, not every adventure or activity can be deemed ‘therapy’, or can it?
The definition of Therapy is “the treatment of physical, mental or social disorders or disease” whereas the definition of Therapeutic is defined as “of or relating to the treatment and cure of a disease”. Clearly, the word ‘disease’ appears to relate to both definitions although in Therapy, it is the wording ‘treatment of’ that appears to be the operative meaning whereas in Therapeutic it is the ‘relating to’ .
In simpler terms, this would appear to suggest that there is basically no difference between Therapy and Therapeutic experiences. However, within these two definitions, the operative word ‘treatment’ and ‘cure’ is surely in itself, the goal of the therapist (although not necessarily that of the patient/customer/client) but is it the same goal as those running/leading groups in therapeutic adventure activities?

Within the recognised understanding of ‘Therapy’, there are two recognised forms and approaches. The first, psychotherapy, (which also encompasses counselling in the truest sense), is a professional activity within a clearly defined contractual relationship through which the process enables clients to develop awareness, options and skills in daily life through the enhancement of the individuals’ strengths and resources. The main aim is to increase the client’s autonomy in relation to the social and cultural environment.
The many forms of psycho-‘therapy’ includes and involves mediums such as  Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, Humanistic, Person-Centred, Reality approach, Existentialism, Logotherapy, Behavioural and Multimodal and are all recognised by professional bodies, academia and governmental departments such as Health, Education and Social Services.
Most of these approaches may involve lengthy periods of training within each specific field with assessment or an examination by peers or an academic institution at the end of it.
When such an assessment or examination is passed, the individual becomes an accredited ‘Therapist’ in their chosen field or specific area and is invited to join a professional body pertaining to that approach. Some work within local and central government departments, others for charities, voluntary agencies, private sector and of course, some will become independent freelance practitioners.
However, in the current field of some ‘outdoor’ therapies and in particular Wilderness Therapy, Nature Therapy and Eco Therapy, there are no recognised professional training courses for an individual to become a Wilderness, Nature, or Eco Therapist let alone any theoretical, philosophical, psychoanalytical constructs that help to determine what the ‘therapist’ should do (or not do) in the remit of their job!
In this respect, facilitators working under these programme titles do so on the basis that they have relevant qualifications and experience in a similar related field which clearly does not include psychotherapy training which is the requirement for someone to call themselves a ‘therapist’. Similarly, only an individual with a recognised counselling qualification can call themselves a Counsellor. This begs the question therefore as to who can or cannot say that what they do is Wilderness, Nature or Eco therapy!
Accredited Therapists, those who have a psychotherapy or a counselling qualification are bound by explicit codes of ethical behaviour and professional practice which if broken, can result in disciplinary hearings within their own professional body.

To this end, we note already that there is a marked difference between those individuals who become accredited Therapists and who may decide to utilise adventure activity as a tool for conducting their therapy work with clients and those individuals who work in the adventure activity medium organising/leading activities for experiential learning purposes and which by its very application can be deemed therapeutic.
In this context I am thinking of social workers, youth workers, probation officers, community development workers and even teachers who also adhere to their own professional code of ethics and who may be experienced in effecting good and appropriate group work, self reflection work among other areas of importance for the benefit and positive development of young people. Where do they fit in [if at all]? 
There is of course, another approach to the meaning ‘therapy’, which also requires extensive training and an assessment to determine the individual’s capability and knowledge before they can become accredited practitioners as therapists.
Such an approach involves the therapist concentrating on specific physical aspects of ‘psychotherapy’ such as art, dream interpretation, drama, music and reality therapy, [not forgetting physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists]. 
Whilst this group also involve helping clients to work through their emotions, feelings, fears, thoughts and fantasies etc within a therapeutic relationship, they use physical movement, touch and interpretation as the working medium for their clients experiential journey to achieve a specific goal or outcome.
In short, psychotherapy and counselling [both approaches being viewed as professional approaches to Therapy] is a professional activity within a clearly defined contractual relationship through which the process enables clients to develop awareness, options and skills in daily life through the enhancement of the individuals’ strengths and resources. The main aim is to increase the client’s autonomy in relation to thier social and cultural environment.
In short, psychotherapy which of course, can include and involve counselling, is in itself a specialised activity with a distinct focus on the therapist acquiring appropriate skills, knowledge and experience through rigorous training. Counselling on the other hand, is another approach to therapy, often chosen by professionals working in the social/psychological and cultural fields of practice, as in social welfare, social work, pastoral work and health etc.
As we noted earlier, both approaches are bound by explicit codes of ethical behaviour and professional practice and demand a practitioner undergo a recognised form of training and formalised assessment before they can call themselves a therapist or counsellor.

Continuing this line of thought, we can see that this understanding of a therapist/therapeutic counsellor, is in reality, someone who is qualified and certificated to undertake treatment of physical, mental, or social disorders or diseases, hence the operative word therapy. Given the definition above of both therapy and therapeutic, it surely must be clear that someone who is not qualified or certificated to undertake any form of recognised therapy or counselling with clients/patients, cannot therefore undertake any form of ‘outdoor’ adventure based  therapy. Or is this just an assumption on my part!
Within the wide spectrum of adventure and outdoor activities, we note with clarity, that if an un-certificated or un-qualified climber, mountaineer, canoeist, caver etc were to charge clients to be led on such an activity, either here in the UK or abroad, this would unquestionably be viewed as being unethical and without a doubt, being carried out without proper and appropriate insurance being valid. Such practices would unquestioningly be frowned upon and indeed, would be open to a wide plethora of litigation avenues the industry could well do without. 
Whilst we openly acknowledge within our society and more so within the world of adventure activities, the value base for training, experience and some recognised standard of assessment by which qualifications can be obtained in order for a practitioner to operate within the boundaries of current legislation and insurance cover, why then should we accept (sometimes with question), a situation whereby qualified activity instructors purport to carry out therapeutic adventure under the guise of adventure therapy, when clearly they are not qualified to do so. Or does it really matter?
Clearly, whilst being experienced in any adventurous activity (climbing, mountaineer, canoeing, caving, sailing, skiing etc) is not a pre-requisite for being qualified to undertake any form of ‘therapy’ with clients no matter the working remit or medium, it is, again in my view, totally appropriate and acceptable for them to undertake therapeutic adventure within the general adventure medium.
This situation clearly needs addressing within the reference framework for both adventure practitioners and therapists, although this in itself becomes more confusing when we note that therapists often refer to themselves as ‘practitioners’ albeit of a different kind to that of the activity instructor. 
Continuing the question posed from the outset, are we to assume then, that ‘therapists’ who are not qualified to lead or run a wide variety of adventurous activities – rock climbing, canoeing, skiing, mountaineering, caving, abseiling etc. and who run some form of ‘outdoor’ adventure based therapy sessions (competently and professionally I may add), do so by only using adventure activities that do not require an ‘instructional’ qualification! If so, is this approach a true picture of what is meant by Wilderness Therapy, Adventure Therapy, Nature Therapy or Eco Therapy let alone Adventure based counselling or is it just ‘professional practice’ by another name!
In essence, are we to assume that ‘adventure therapy’ can be anything anyone wants it to be or should it be something defined, consistent and understood across the professional disciplines, academia, local and governmental departments, especially  those who hold the financial ‘purse strings’ to pay for such ‘health related’ pursuits?
Continuing the debate between the stated differences, we still note that despite having the same apparent goal, it is clear that the meaning and interpretation of ‘therapy’, is that it entails ‘treating’ the patient/client whilst ‘therapeutic’  ‘relates’ to the treatment of the patient/client.
Within this concept, we can clearly see that ‘adventure therapy’ is an ‘umbrella’ under which a therapist works to achieve a desired goal in relation to their client, and ‘therapeutic adventure’ is the means through which this goal is achieved. Semantics! Yes, but non the less we can see how such a ‘fire of debate’ is fanned.
I am however aware, that the current debate/argument centres more around the question, of whether or not any ambiguity between the many ‘outdoor’ terminologies really exists, let alone really matters. So as I said earlier, is it just semantics or is there something that needs to be ‘professionally’ compartmentalised in order for both Adventure Therapy and Therapeutic Adventure to be validated and legitimised within the adventure activity arena irrespective of the title of the programme?
Personally, I feel that there is an ambiguity between the many working definitions and that it really does matter, as the alternative is for all to be undervalued and ‘watered down’ to such an extent that rifts will appear between ‘therapists’, adventure ‘practitioners’ and wilderness/nature/eco practitioners let alone the academic world.
The following two examples give a clear indication of what the differences are between these two approaches; one being a client participating in a programme of Adventure Therapy and another a group of young women participating in a programme of therapeutic adventure. [Often referred to as Big ‘T’ [Adventure Therapy] and Little ‘t’  [Therapeutic Adventure]:-
First Case History  – Adventure Therapy [Big ‘T’]:
This example involves a young male client aged 13 [referred to as P] who was undergoing a 12 months residential programme with a requirement to undergo specific ‘therapy’ in order to address unresolved childhood abuse issues which was affecting his inter-personal relationship skills, his criminal behaviour that was putting his welfare ‘at risk’, and, his inability to concentrate long enough to take on board any element of formalised education or learning.

Brief personal history of the client referred to as P:
Father unknown. Mother abused sexually and physically during her own childhood whilst living in care of a local authority. P had a sister aged 5 who was ‘Role Reversing’ with her mother, [i.e parenting her own mother]. He also had an older sister and brother, both drug users and suppliers. Both in prison. Both involved in criminal activities and both had spent their own childhood in local authority care.

Current status of young client: On fringes of drug culture with peers. Vulnerable to older males using him to break into small places-shops, houses etc. Refused all schooling because of his very short concentration span. He had a criminal record for theft, burglaries, TWOC [taking (vehicle) without consent], and use of a firearm to endanger life.
Prognoses: Very poor. Had a strong desire to follow in his brothers footsteps. Believes other peoples property is ‘fair game’ and has no emotional ties with personal belongings or to other people.
Therapeutic approach: As with the stated differences between Adventure Therapy and Therapeutic Adventure, there is also a difference between Therapy and Counselling even though both have the same goal, function and purpose (certainly as far as the client is concerned).
Whilst there is some disagreement between therapists and counsellors on the exact definition of counselling, there does seem to be some consensus of opinion in that it is in effect a helping activity that involves talking to others and facilitating them to process their experiences in order to make desired changes to their feelings, thinking and behaviour presentation in addition to understanding their own perception of themselves as an individual. [It is within this facilitation process that psychological theories are applied].
The programme utilised certain aspects of Transactional Analysis to explore issues by looking at ego states, life scripts, driver behaviour, games, drama triangles and interactions on a multi varied level and with P, this was no different although the language used would be more akin to his own frame of reference of understanding than anyone else’s.
Programme Approach: To spend 3 days per week for 12 months undergoing direct counselling and therapy in order to:
  i)raise self-esteem and feelings of self-worth;
  ii)to attempt to break the cycle of criminal activities;      
           
            iii)to attempt to instil the value of education and learning;
              
            iv)to help him see inter-familial issues and relationships which have shaped  
               his own image of himself.

 v)to give him a sense of purpose through an interest outside drugs
              and crime culture.

Chosen therapeutic medium: It was agreed to adopt adventure activities as the tool for trying to achieve some of the stated aims as outlined above. This was done for 5 reasons;
1)P was fit, physical healthy, energetic, thrived on  adrenalin flow, enjoyed real
   dangerous situations, had short motivation spans and saw all forms of learning
  (education) as a ‘turn off’.

2)P was currently placed in a residential therapeutic community which utilised
   outdoor adventure as a ‘tool’ for aiding recovery and personality construct and
   as such, possessed the skills and experience to adopt such an intensive
   programme.

3)The approach would give P an opportunity to mix and meet other people who
   were not necessarily interested or involved in drugs and crime culture.

4)The medium allowed for a wide range of activity and environmental choices
   that P could freely make.

5)P had already agreed to be involved in a programme that was adventure based.
Initially, risk assessments were carried out with P, looking at areas such as:-
Was he a potential danger to himself on certain activities?
Was he a potential threat to my own safety or that of others?
Did he have the coordination and language understanding to be able to function safely and appropriately so that he would obtain enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning from the activity?

The risk assessments were carried out locally, initially on a low level approach. Visiting indoor climbing walls with single pitches, canoeing on a local small lake, forest walks, tree swinging, handling ropes and wearing harnesses on simple tasks, low level hill and moor land walking and visiting a grade 1 cave system i.e. walk in walk out.
Over the months, these risk assessments were widened to include rock climbing on outdoor crags, sea cliff traversing, multi-pitch indoor climbing, abseiling, gorge walking, sea canoeing, wild camping, and visiting different environments through trips to far distant areas in North Wales, Scotland and eventually Nepal. 

There was no doubt, that P had a real talent for succeeding at any form of activity. Within three months he was leading single pitch climbs indoors to a high grade, entering into several national climbing competitions where he managed to come fifth and sixth. Several months later, he was seconding multi-pitch rock climbs out on crags to Very Severe standard and in the north of Scotland was able to claim three new routes on sea cliffs of varying grades albeit all single pitch routes. He was later to become proficient at sea kayaking, rope management, caving, ghyll scrambling, skiing, archery, horse riding, abseiling, fishing, golf and bird identification among many others.
Footnote: All these activities included an element of learning through reading, writing, building, touching, sensing, exploring, discussing and self evaluation both whilst participating in outdoor activities and when doing something else. In essence, he was being ‘educated’ albeit to his own level and at his own pace]
It was clear that he was deriving much from meeting other like minded adventurers and excelled at socialisation on an appropriate and acceptable level, both with his peers and with older people. Since his start on the programme right up until his experiential trip abroad, he had never bothered to talk about drugs showing no interest in talking about it and no showed any interest in wanting to be involved in criminal activities. Whilst during his early period (the first two months) he was prone to episodes of minor shoplifting, [books on birds, and fishing hooks] but this was a far cry from his earlier ‘thieving’ days [sweets, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs knives, money and property].
Once he saw that he had only to ask for such items (something he was never taught how to do as his own family just took what they wanted from shops or other people), his petty pilfering stopped. He later started to save pocket money so that he could purchase items he wanted with his own ‘legally’ accumulated money.
However, given the nature of the practical side of the therapeutic approach, It was important to engage P on the more subtleties surrounding therapy which would involve helping him to look at his early childhood, his family composition and their inter-personal interaction and behaviour, and, to have a more comprehensive understanding of the issues for him later on in life relating to drugs misuse and criminal behaviour.
In essence, this was achieved through building a trusting and meaningful relationship between himself and the team assigned to work with him for the duration of the programme. Over the weeks and months, the staff team worked hard with P, to form opinions about each other, recognising that we were all individuals in our own right who had hopes, dreams, fears, wishes, positive and negative thoughts, strengths and weaknesses and that trust and honesty was the only way we could all enjoy the fullness of any adventurous experience irrespective of what that activity was.  
A psychoanalytical strategy was adopted throughout the programme which addressed issues through the ‘captive audience’ approach. For example, knowing in advance that he had visited his family back in his home area the previous weekend, and that he had not gone out to visit his friends (where of course drugs, alcohol and criminal opportunities of shop lifting would be presented to him), the staff team could engage him in meaningful dialogue, usually whilst actively participating in an activity so that whilst he was busy thinking about what he was ‘doing’, he would be more positively susceptible to entering into a conversation about issues he felt emotionally, were ‘secondary’ to the activity to hand.
This acted both as a cathartic tool for P which in turn became part of the therapeutic process which in our view, linked up the holistic approach to the concept and value of counselling, therapy and therapeutic experiences as an ‘all in one approach’ to change.  
Clearly, over the months, his demeanour, thinking processes and overall attitude towards his earlier behaviour, slowly changed in that he was beginning to hold a more positive image within his own mind about who he was, what he was and who he could be (his ambition was to be a famous rock climber like two of his heroes he met during his activities – Doug Scott and Leo Holding).
Whilst this article is not the place to delve deeply into the psychological and psychoanalytical processes that took place over the 12 month period, suffice to say that the angry dysfunctionate little boy who arrived was not the mature, logically thinking adolescent boy who finally left the programme.
He made so much progress that a decision was made to allow him to accompany a group trekking to the Nepal Himalaya with a view to participating in doing some charity work in the mountain village of Langtang, bordering Tibet in the north.
The purpose for this decision was to allow him the opportunity to experience different cultures, religious beliefs, look at different life styles and to live in an environment which he had only seen and admired in books, slide shows, films and photographs he had been exposed to during his first 8 months on the programme.
Again, this is not the place to go into detail regarding his experiences over that five week period, but suffice to say that he behaved appropriately, made good friends with many local people, helped others on the trek, participated fully in every aspect of the trip, not only listening to ideas and suggestions of others, but making his own views known when appropriate.
There is no doubt, that P grew from an insignificant little boy (as he initially viewed himself) to the self-determining individual who felt good about himself, understood his previous behaviour and was more open to learning and education.
Of course, within the context of the whole programme and approach, there were many moral and professional ethics and issues that needed to be addressed, not least what was to happen to P once he had completed his programme? What were the criteria for evaluating levels of success? What support mechanisms was being made available to him? Given that he was going to be returned to live with his family and therefore able to mix freely with his earlier peers who were still involved in the drugs and criminal scene, was it fair to remove him in the first place, give him experiences in a field that was not available to him back home and expect him not to revert back to his previous inappropriate behaviour? And finally, is it morally and professionally ethical to embark on a programme which basis its working perspective on forming positive and meaningful relationships between client and therapist/counsellor/practitioner/facilitator?

Second Case History  – Adventure Therapy [Little ‘t’]:
Clients: A group of young women aged from 13 - 16 living in a residential care home and who had all been victims of earlier childhood interfamilial abuse both sexual and physical.
Current status of Clients: All had no self-esteem, saw themselves as unlovable, guilty and responsible for their abusive treatment, were all self-harming through a wide variety of methods (body cutting, self-injury, suicide attempts–wrist cutting, tablet overdosing and in gestation of other harmful substances) in addition to having missed many years of formal education through either being suspended, expelled or just refusing to attend.

Prognoses: Possibly would enter into a cycle of abuse through relationships with males who represented their earlier abuser. In this scenario, it is more than likely that as mothers, they would be unable to protect their own children from similar abuse.  In addition, there was the potential for disfigurement and even death if their self-harming behaviour went unchecked.

Therapeutic approach: Several of the young women refused any formal style therapy although two were receiving direct therapy from a psychotherapist who was working directly with their self-harming behaviour.

A multi-professional conference agreed that the individuals required some medium through which they could increase their own self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, explore their personal issues surrounding mistrust of adults, especially males. It was felt that this would best be obtained through being members of a group with similar dispositions and complex psychological matrices and to participate in a wide variety of activities, both outdoor and indoor.

To meet this criteria, a one day per week programme was set up to run for a 12 month period, utilising a variety of experiential activities in order to meet these identified needs. The only pre-requisite being, that they all had to agree to full participation.

Chosen therapeutic medium: At an initial meeting with the young women, several programmes were put to them but they chose to adopt the adventure activity programme – rock climbing, caving, sailing, canoeing, ghyll scrambling, abseiling, camping and hill walking.

The main difference between ‘big T’ approach and ‘little t’ approach with this group of clients, centred around the counselling aspect in that no one undertook any specific individual counselling although this was utilised collectively through periodic group work sessions. The main aim therefore, was not to ‘theraputise’ the young women through the adventure activities but to offer opportunities for them to explore issues pertinent to themselves within a safe and abusive free environment. 

In effect, they would be in control of identifying their own therapeutic processes, being able in a sense, to interpret feelings and emotions emanating from the experiences and to apply them to areas of their own choosing. Group work sessions were used for individuals to openly discuss personal issues which they felt was similar to issues held by other group members. In this approach, they were acting as self-therapists through the reflective processes of the other group members.

It was obvious throughout the 12 month programme, [which saw several changes to the groups composition] that some activities were more therapeutic in value than others. Despite this, most were able to get something from the activity which in itself, met their own identified inner needs.

For example, on the caving trip, the young women who was claustrophobic (due to being locked in a cupboard under the stairs at home by her abusive parents) overcame her fear of confined spaces through the group process of being able to accept help from others and, during negotiating several waterfall pitches which she found easy and enjoyable, was able to offer help to those finding this part a little hard to overcome. 

Selection of group helpers was paramount so it was decided to include (female) key workers who would be living and working with the young women back in their residential home. In this respect, they could be an active participant in the overall therapeutic experience, use interactive processes latter during their own 1:1 key worker sessions as they related to the activity, and, allowed the strengthening of the relationship between young person and key worker through mutual participation.

[Note: The programme leader was male]

After six months, the groups programme started to include group work discussions, role play sessions, drama and music therapy, dream interpretation therapy, relaxation therapy, tactile exploration using body modelling sessions and individual tape therapy. The adventure activities continued but played a less significant part in the overall programme as the group became more united in their beliefs, emotions and feelings surrounding their earlier childhood negative abusive experiences. To this end, the group became self determining and finally decided that the last three sessions would not involve adventurous activities but agendas that they would agree on.

Of course, just as in the first case study, there were similar moral and ethical questions and issues that needed to be addressed. How would a male facilitator/worker affect the therapeutic experiences of an all female group? How should we overcome issues of gender and in particular, the group holding a mistrust of males (given that the large majority of the young women’s abusers were male) and, the boundaries between what is seen as potentially abusive as apposed to normal tactile contact between an adult instructor and female clients? 

What are the moral issues surrounding a male worker actively involved with young female victims of childhood sexual abuse and in particular, the ethics of only having a male leader/instructor which in itself portrays an image that males are more powerful and as such appears to have more control in an area which is pervaded by a ‘macho image’ through media and the outdoor activity arena?

On reflection, we can see that in the ‘big T’ approach, this was seen as an appropriate tool for addressing specific issues and problems held by the young client. The programme was built with this in mind from the outset and whilst all the activities undertaken can and should be viewed as therapeutic in nature, the real ‘therapy’ took place according to an agreed approach so as to arrive at specific outcomes, i.e. changes within the client which would in part, give him a greater insight into his own family and social situation as well as individuality within the world he has to eventually live in and be an integral part of rather than functioning ‘outside of’, and, to see how others view him as an individual within a medium where he himself excels and succeeds.

The reliance of levels of attachment in the ‘big T’ approach were far greater than that utilised on the ‘little t’ approach in that within [adventure] therapy there is a far greater emphasis on inter-personal relationship between client and therapist as nothing can take place without trust and this is only borne out of an appropriate meaningful relationship.

The ‘little t’ approach however, had far broader remits which encompassed a variety of outcomes. Self awareness, raising of self esteem through achievement, increasing feelings of self-worth through inter-personal relationships and relationships between peers and adults which was not based on abusive behaviour.

Evaluating both approaches on a professional intervention level, we note the following differences in professional perspectives :-

‘Big T’ Approach requires some level of professional assessment of an individual  which results in an order/decision being made requiring the individual to undergo some form of direct intervention in order for necessary change to take place whereas ‘little t’ does not.

In the ‘little t’ approach, the activity is the driving force of the interaction between adult and client(s) whereas in ‘big T’ it is the underlying psychoanalytical input that drives the interaction process.
In the world of therapists, therapy is seen as being related as a 1:1 exchange within the therapeutic session whereas in ‘little t’, any therapeutic approach can be undertaken with more than one individual.

The therapist if participating in 1:1 therapy, will hone in their skills by using any activity or medium in order to concentrate on specific outcomes. In ‘little t’ the activity in itself can be both cathartic and therapeutic in nature just as it can not be. In this context, what an individual may perceive as being therapeutic (enjoyable) or cathartic (helpful), may be derived soley from group interaction itself, space away from somewhere where ‘bad’ things have happened to them, or, just the change of environment rather than any physical activity. To this end, the event is just as purposeful and meaningful.

In ‘little t’ a therapeutic experience does not necessarily have to have a purpose other than the activity itself. It may not also, rely on a mandate (contract) between worker and individuals, and may not require assessments to be undertaken on individuals to identify changes that are required for the healing/recovery process.

However, whether or not you feel that there is any difference between Adventure Therapy and Therapeutic Adventure, you should explore this question yourself and not take for granted what anybody says it is, including me. We are all infallible, have our own frames of reference within which we think, act and believe, and, we all have agendas relating to our personality, ego states, social and professional standing, cultural, social and religious beliefs which impinge on our everyday lives.

In conclusion, it is difficult to see how recognised adventure activity on its own, can be classed as ‘therapy’ although without a doubt, it should be acknowledged that adventure activity can and often is, therapeutic and that if placed appropriately within the conceptual framework of adventure activity, both will be responsible for the client/patient experiencing a positive outcome from their participation. 
However, this said and done, there are those who will continue to argue and debate the stated earlier hypothesis, and rightly so in my view as professional debate will ensure that those carrying out both approaches within the adventure field, will do so with a clear understanding of what they are doing, why they are doing it, for whose benefit and with a clear outcome for the clear benefit for the client/customer. 
Now I know that much that I have said so far in this article will ruffle some feathers of those in the medical profession as well as those academics and possibly practitioners. I make no apologise as my intention [my hope] is to get people talking, arguing if you like, as debate must take place if we are to embark on new programmes that involve Vision Quests and Rites of passage as in my view they clearly overlap not just with Adventure Therapy and Therapeutic Adventure concepts and constructs, both academically and in practice but also all other working practices that involve using the outdoors as a medium for working with individuals and groups.
This said and done however, the debate here in the U.K. has clearly yet to get underway which is not necessarily a bad thing as it means that both academics and practitioners have the golden opportunity of coming together to agree on a conceptual framework and working construct of what constitutes the different and just as valid working approaches in this field.
Perhaps the 5IATC (5th International Adventure Therapy Conference) which is held every 4 years and will be held in the U.K. in 2009, will go some way to starting the debate so long as those involved are open minded and prepared to listen to all side of the debate!
This can only be of immense benefit to the clients and participants of such programmes and whilst I am not trying to suggest or offer any final explanation of what the differences may be between the various Therapeutic terminologies, I hope that at least it stimulates a healthy debate between practitioners, between academics and between both practitioners and academics and does in some way, bring them together as equal partners rather than a ‘them and us’ situation.
Given this take on it, why then should we even consider adopting new outdoor adventure based programmes under the guise of revamped and modified Vision Quests and Rites of Passage for modern day youth when we already have a wide and diverse healthy approach to outdoor adventure which can achieve similar aims and objectives for the young people participating on the programmes?
This of course, is assuming that my use of the word’ healthy’ is how all those involved in all the ‘outdoor’ working perspectives under whichever name you give it, see the current situation here in the U.K. If you were to ask me what I think, I would say ‘I think not’.
My reasons for this answer are clear as I have already indicated earlier on and that is that we do not as yet have any common agreed approach by academics, practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists as to how any form of ‘outdoor’ work/therapy should be carried out, nor what the evaluation criteria should be to measure success (or failure) let alone who should be qualified to run and lead such programmes. This of course also includes what such programmes should be called!
However, let’s move on as we can get drawn into a lengthy debate which is not the purpose of this article although the importance of such a debate should not be ignored or underestimated.
Any programme using the title wilderness therapy, eco therapy, nature therapy, adventure based counselling, wilderness adventure therapy or any other outdoor based programmes (which I acknowledge can also be indoors) that uses the terminology ‘therapy’ after or before it, should again in my view, have several things in common:-
First they all should entail practitioners/leaders being experienced and trained in both hard and soft skills so that there is consistency in motivational approaches. Similarly, constant support should flow through the programme keeping connections between both levels of skills.
For example, rock climbing, canoeing, abseiling, mountain biking and other outdoor activities are in essence the hard skills which of course helps the individual on many different levels – hand/foot coordination; communication; leadership skills; team work; listening skills andn so on.

However, it is pointless if an individual learns these new skills but has no understanding of why they behave the way they do, or why they always seem to be repeating behaviour that never seems to get them anywhere.
If change is to take place irrespective of whether or not they are expected to do this through a Rite of Passage, in my view again, they need to know about Driver Behaviour and how their own Drivers have been constructed.
In essence, they need some psychoanalytical input which helps them address issues they may be harbouring and which are preventing them from journeying towards self-actualisation.
Secondly, they should all have an element of sustainability built into the programmes which may or may not include evaluations and reviewing opportunities so that when the young person returns to their home area, any work done whilst on the programme can be capitalised on by workers in their community. In essence we need joined up thinking in all our adventure based programmes that are operated in areas far removed from the young person’s home area.
Third but not least, they should all involve some element of therapeutic underpinning which should be clearly understood by the participants from the outset so that they can be aware and fully involved in approaches to help them discover their true inner self and connect to their internal belief systems on what ever level it lies and in what ever shape it happens to be. This in my view is one way we can help individuals work towards Maslow’s concept of self-actualisation.
In ethnic cultures in the past, many young people participated in a Rite of Passage that helped them move from adolescent to adulthood with all the inherent respect, responsibilities and opportunities this gave. Many went on a Vision Quest in search of their inner dreams, their innermost thoughts, their own intellectual construct and understanding of who and what they are and more importantly, what value they had to their family and wider community.
Without a doubt, this Vision Quest as a Rite of Passage experience was the pivotal point in an individual’s life as it marked forever the transition from adolescence without a voice to an adult whose voice was forever heard among equals.
The psychoanalyst Erik Erikson studied the Oglala Lakota whose Vision Quests and Rites of Passage was the underpinning of their culture and belief system before it was torn apart by western thinking and concepts about what makes a ‘good citizen’.
                               
Erik Homburger Erikson (June 15, 1902 – May 12, 1994) was a Jewish German developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings, and for coining the phrase identity crisis.
His birth was the result of his Danish Jewish mother’s affair with an unnamed married Dane (probably called Erik). This was kept secret from Erikson who was born and registered in Frankfurt, Germany as Erik Solomonsen. However, his mother married in 1904 when Erikson was two and in 1911 he was officially adopted and took his step-father’s name: Hombuger. His birth (and biological father) was kept a secret from Erikson until he was in his teens.
This ‘secret’ had a major influence on his later work which involved Identity and Identity crises issues.
During his career he was basically a Freudian (ego-psychologist) in that he believed Freud’s ideas and theories were basically correct.
He later refined Freud’s theory of Human development also refined earlier by Heinz Hartmann and Anna Freud.
Erikson believed that every human being goes through 8 stages of development throughout their lives in order to reach their full developmental potential.
Most empirical research into Erikson's theories has stemmed around his views on adolescence and attempts to establish identity.
His theoretical approach was studied and supported, particularly regarding adolescence, by James Marcia whose work extended Erikson's; distinguishing different forms of identity, and there is some empirical evidence that those people who form the most coherent self-concept in adolescence are those who are most able to make intimate attachments in early adulthood. This supports Eriksonian theory, in that it suggests that those best equipped to resolve the crisis of early adulthood are those who have most successfully resolved the crisis of adolescence.

Erikson found that among the peoples of the Oglala Lakota, it was the long held tradition for a young adolescent boy to go off into the wilderness on his own, without weapons and wearing nothing but a loincloth and moccasins, on a personal dream vision quest.
The individual would endure extreme hunger and thirst and their bones and limbs would ache constantly from the weariness of their ‘Journey’. They would be expected to stay out in the wilderness without food, clothing, shelter or weapons to defend themselves in order to invoke a dream-state during which they would have a vision which they were expected to have on their fourth day of their ‘Journey’.
This dream or vision would reveal to the young man their life's path though symbols which may or may not have meaning at the time of the vision.
Once they had experienced their vision, they would return home where they would be expected to relate their vision in great detail to the tribal elders.
In turn, the tribal elders would interpret the visions and symbols according to their ancient tribal practice. The point of the vision was that it would tell the young man whether he was destined to be a good hunter, or a great warrior, or an expert at the art of horse-stealing, or perhaps to he was to become specialized in the making of weapons, or even a spiritual leader, a tribal priest, or powerful medicine man.
In some cases, the dream would lead him into the realm of controlled deviations among the Oglala. For example, a dream involving the thunderbird might lead a boy to go through a period of time as a heyoka, which involved acting like a clown or a crazy man or a vision of the moon or a white buffalo could lead the young man to a life as a berdache, a man who dresses and behaves as if he were a woman.
Whatever the interpretations of the young man’s visions were, there was in reality only a limited number of roles an individual could play in life and which was very limited to men as apposed to women who had a greater scope in this area.
Research shows us that in general, many young Oglala ended up being ‘generalists’ as few could afford to be specialists. To help individuals learn to be a generalist among their tribe, role learning was carried out by simply being around the other people in your family and tribal community.
In effect, you learnt how to behave by living life in reality, as it had to be lived given the circumstances.

By the time the Oglala Lakota were visited by Erik Erikson in the 1940’s, things had changed quite a bit from the old tribal nomadic ways. They had been herded onto a large but barren reservation through a series of wars and unhappy treaties. The main source of food, clothing, shelter, and just about everything else -- the buffalo -- had long since been hunted into near-extinction.
Worst of all, the patterns of their lives had been taken from them, not by white soldiers, but by the quiet efforts of government bureaucrats who worked hard to turn the Lakota into [their view (sic)] of an American!
Children were no longer able to learn by seeing others doing. They were made to stay at boarding schools much of the year, in the sincere belief that civilization and prosperity comes with education. As these boarding schools were run by the White Man along their own White Man’s frame of reference of the world, the young Oglala were taught many things that contradicted what they learned at home. For example, they were taught white standards of cleanliness and beauty, some of which contradicted the Lakota standards of modesty. They were taught to compete, which contradicted Lakota traditions of egalitarianism. They were told to speak up, when their upbringing told them to be still. In other words, their white teachers found them quite impossible to work with, and their parents found them quite corrupted by an alien culture.
As time went by, their original culture disappeared being replaced with the White Man’s concept of being civilised! Unfortunately, this ‘new’ culture did not in the least provide the necessary substitutions, In effect there were no more dream quests for what was the point as there were no more tribal ancient roles for a young Oglala adolescent to dream themselves into?
Erikson was moved by the difficulties faced by the Lakota children and adolescents he talked to and observed during his stay with them on their reservation. He acknowledged that growing up and finding one's place in the world and especially in the new emerging America, was not easy for many other ‘Americans’, either. For example, the African-Americans still struggled to piece together an identity out of forgotten African roots, the culture of powerlessness and poverty, and the culture of the surrounding white majority and of being second class citizens.
Like native Americans, most modern day cultures have also lost many of the rituals that once guided them through life and to-days question is far more complex and frustrating for adolescents irrespective of their cultural or national heritage.
At what point are you an adult? Is it when you go through puberty? Have your confirmation or bar mitzvah? Is it when you have your first sexual experience? Or your sweet sixteen (or adult eighteen) party? Is it when you get your learner's driving licence or attend College or University? What about voting in your first election, your first job?

Perhaps it is when society deems you old enough to purchase alcohol. What about college graduation? When exactly is it that everyone treats you like an adult?
For the Oglala adolescent just as it was for many other Native American Indians, African tribes, Scottish Clans, cultural and ethnic groups around the globe who followed a tradition of vision quests, life was simple in that you were an adult when you had completed your own Vision Quest whatever format this takes. This in essence was their Rite of Passage.
Consider some of the contradictions that exist for to-days adolescent: they may be old enough to be entrusted with a fast moving pile of potentially deadly speeding metal, yet not be allowed to vote; they may be old enough to die for their country in war, yet not be permitted to order a beer or purchase cigarettes for their own consumption. As a college student, they may be trusted with thousands of pounds of student loans, yet not be able to secure a mortgage if they are not in full employment.
In traditional societies (even during my own childhood) a young man or woman looked up to his or her parents, relations, neighbours, teachers and policeman. We saw these people as decent, hard-working people (most of them) and we wanted to be just like them so we as children had dreams of what we wanted to be when we grew up.
Unfortunately, most children today look to the mass media, especially T.V. for role models. It is easy to understand why: the people on T.V. are prettier, richer, smarter,  healthier and happier than anybody in our own neighbourhoods! Unfortunately, they aren't real. Are they? And how can we expect young people to follow reasonable standards of morality and decency when individuals who deliberately or through incompetence, lose millions of pounds of someone else’s money as happened in the Bearings Bank scandal and even here as a result of their incompetence, they become celebrities, get paid vast sums of money for book and film rights and are seen in some quarters as ‘heroes’ and ending up on reality TV programmes such as ‘Big Brother’ which again gives young people a distorted view and understanding of what a celebrity really is!
Even in the world of higher education how can we not be surprised to hear that so many new college students are quickly disappointed to discover that their chosen field actually requires a lot of work and study! It does not appear like this on T.V. does it?
Later, when they leave the world of academia with degrees and qualifications many people are equally surprised that the jobs they worked so hard to get aren't as creative and glorious and fulfilling as they expected. Again, that isn't how it is on T.V. It shouldn't surprise us that so many young people look to the short-cuts that crime seems to offer or the fantasy life that drugs promise, or even how to become a ‘celeb’!

Some of you may see this as an exaggeration or a blasé statement on the stereotypical modern adolescence and you may be right but then after working in the youth work/social work residential field for over forty years, whilst I have not seen it all, I have seen a great deal which undoubtedly plays a major part in making me feel and think this way.
Clearly, young people require external support in order to be able to find the motivational levels to effect any necessary change if they are to find their own way in this complex, uncertain and rapidly changing world finding their rightful place on an ‘even playing field of life’.
Lacking the opportunity to engage in positive initiatory experiences, youth may instead make attempts at self-initiation, which often fail to bring increased maturity and self-responsibility. The increased self-knowledge and self-respect that results from participation in a youth Rite of Passage can have a positive effect that lasts a lifetime.
I am not advocating that like the Oglala youths, we make to-days modern youth go through similar Rites of Passage to have a Vision Quest, far from it, but what I am advocating is that we put in place a variety of Rites of Passage that make the youth of today, recognise their own importance and worth to both self and others and to experience on a personal level, a connecting of themselves to something outside the self, be it an emotional experience through being in touch with nature in its raw state, or a therapeutic experience through making an internal connection to their soul in whatever format this takes, or even just to experience at a unique level a spiritual awakening of their own internal identity and sense of belonging.
Seeing a young troubled individual spend two hours in silence building their Jehari doorway, then standing before it for fifteen minutes in silent contemplation before walking through it to cleanse their inner emotions or thoughts about something that resonates with their own desire to change and be seen as someone with a place in the world, and of having some value to themselves and others and more importantly, a sense of belief in themselves as individuals, is something that affects emotionally the most hardened practitioner who believes they have done it all, been there and worn the T shirt!
Helping a young woman who feels she has no power over her body, that it in some way deserves to be hurt and abused by others, speak out during a ‘tacky-talk’ session around a night time camp fire to say she feels that she is now beginning to understand the concept of saying ‘no’, of believing that she has the power to choose, to think and to speak about ownership of her own body is something practitioners strive for all their working lives yet rarely experience.

For me as a wilderness practitioner, I never marvel at the strength and tenacity young people demonstrate when in the natural environment where natural survival instinct takes over from the need to be selfish and egotistical as apposed to how they are back in modern day society with all its ceaseless demands it makes on the youth of today.
Over the past four decades I have been witness to many situations where young people have defied odds and achieved what to them was impossible, mainly because they were never given the confidence or self esteem to see themselves as anything else but failures, misfits, outcasts and undeserving.
However, the most potent experience I was witness to occurred several years ago whilst on a wilderness river Canadian canoe trip on the wild river Tiza between Northern Hungary and Slovakia and where a natural unplanned Rite of Passage occurred for a group of young people from the state run orphanage in Budapest - FOVÁROS CSEPPKO utcai GYERMEKOTTHONA.
There were 12 young people in the group aged between eleven and eighteen with three practitioners/educators from the orphanage, a Hungarian Psychologist (my Hungarian business partner) and myself as guest practitioner. It was an eight day trip with the orphanage psychiatrist joining us for the middle two days to do some assessment work in the field.
The presenting problems and behaviour of the group of young males ranged from the youngest (11) being seen at the orphanage as the groups scapegoat, the one everyone laughed at or picked on mainly because he was intelligent and very small for his age (as a result of under nourishment as a baby) through to several males aged around 14/15 who were involved in drugs, alcohol and other substance misuse.
The females in the group were aged from 12 – 18 with the majority of them being  involved at some level with Budapest’s sex industry as this was the only way they got attention, money and clothes. All the young people, both male and female had been abandoned by their parents and only two were orphans in the real sense of the word.
Of the seven males, three were of Romany stock who in Hungary are still viewed as second class citizens and are expected by society to either be a waiter (in the service of non Romany’s) or a labourer which in reality means being a ‘goffer’ for the non Romany workers. They have little rights within the employment field which is why they can only secure work that has no future, no contracts or equal rights of pay with their non Romany counterpart workers, and more importantly, are never given work where trust is required.  Why this is important will become clear as it is the very essence of the work we do as youth work practitioners.
Within two days it was clear to me that Romany youth are at a distinct disadvantage from their non Romany peers not least because of the darkness of their skin so it is difficult to pretend you are not a Romany not that many want to. However, because of their ethnic background they are seen as less valuable to society where they currently live (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Romania) and as such, they harbour very low self esteem and a sense of worthlessness not only to others but to themselves and between their own families.
On the fourth day of our river trip we decided to camp on a large sand bar in a bend in the river so we could watch the “Karas” [Palingenia Lonicauda] as they hatched and buzzed incessantly over the fast flowing river, a spectacle not to be missed as  they only hatch once every year at a certain point in time.
                                          
                                         
The following day was hot but as the river was fast flowing, we decided it was not appropriate to go in for a swim and of course, untreated effluent goes straight into the river in places so perhaps this had more to do with our decision!
At midday when it was the hottest, a Romany family came onto the sand bar, two adult males, two adult females one young one elderly and three children, twin boys aged about 12 and a young girl aged about 6. The two men went to the left hand side of the sand bar where the water was flowing faster as it came around the bend of the sand bar as it jutted into the river and the two young boys went off to the right to swim in the shallow lee side of the sand bar. The two boys got into difficulties and were quickly swept into mid stream where they were in real danger of drowning.
The two males jumped in to try to save the boys but they soon got into worse difficulties as they too started to sink below the fast flowing water.
Without any prompting, three of the young lads in our group put on their life jackets and launched two canoes with one adult leader in each canoe. Two others (both Romany and known to be very strong swimmers) jumped in and started to swim out to the two adults. On the shore line we grabbed life lines and waited in fear for something to go tragically wrong.
One of the young lads from our group (lets call him Gin) reached the youngest of the two males at the same time the two canoes reached the two twin boys managing to get them into the canoes. When the young lad got to the adult, the adult said in Hungarian, “leave me alone I want to die with the shame”, lifted his arms in the air and sank beneath the water. The young lad dived under the water and pulled him up and managed to bring him close enough to the shore for the rest of us to grab them both.
At the same time, the other Romany youth (lets call him Billy) reached the oldest of the two males (who turned out to be the father of the children and the brother of the younger male adult). The older adult male was struggling to keep his head above water as he had no energy left at all to fight the fast flowing water and he too appeared to accept his inevitable death by drowning. Like his younger brother, he said something in Hungarian and sank beneath the water. Billy dived down and after some heart stopping seconds appeared with the adult. By this time one of the canoes had made their way to Billy and hanging on to the side of the canoe, the adult male was like his brother, brought to safety to the bank where he too collapsed.
The twin boys seemed to recuperate quickly and they were soon standing beside their mother who during the whole time had stood motionless and without making any sound of any sort not even a cry for help or of fear.
The two adult males were totally exhausted and were shaking, white with fear and were both finding it difficult to breath. We administered first aid or tried to but it was declined. The two lads from our group were very concerned about the two adults and much talk went among the group (in Hungarian so I had no idea what was being said). Billy spoke the most and he was obviously worried about something. After some thirty minutes after being dragged out of the water, the family left without so much as a thank you or even a nod of recognition to either the two lads who dived in to save their lives or the group who in some way also helped in one way or another.
That evening around the camp fire I waited for the discussion to start expecting the  Hungarian Practitioners to use this incident to do some potent group work. When nothing happened I asked my Hungarian business partner who had organised the trip why, he said it was because the family were Romany and the two boys who jumped in were also Romany. I asked what had this to do with not wanting to talk about it and was taken aback when the consultant psychiatrist who was visiting the group said that in Hungary, a Romany’s life was worth little or nothing and so to talk about saving the life of four let alone one, was something the group had been brought up to accept i.e. that a Romany life is not worth talking about.

 
When I pointed out that the majority of the group were not of Romany stock she just said that all Hungarian adolescents were brought up to believe the same thing, that Romany’s were second class citizens and therefore anything that happened to one or a family was of no significance so no body ever talked about incidents that they were involved in unless of course, it was to blame them for crimes that were committed when ever they were around.
Three days later there we were sitting around the camp fire and I just could not keep silent any longer and wanted to talk about the incident, mainly for the young people to see what a brave and selfless thing they did and that to save the life of another human being was in the act of itself, a significant indication of the value of their own individual existence and should be celebrated. After much persuasion the group agreed to talk about it although I should point out the Romany youth present did not want to talk about it including the two young lads who had dived in putting their own lives at risk.
It was interesting to note that the third Romany youth who did not involve himself in any part of the rescue incident was very negative towards his Romany peers saying that this was not a topic they should be bothering themselves about but rather where they were going to get some alcohol as he was ready for some. I was pleased that his input was ignored at least on a shallow level as the group were still not to keen to talk about the incident but neither were they interested in getting any alcohol, at least not right then!
I asked the group if they understood the meaning of self respect or of self value or even of the concept of self actualisation. The reply was as good as it could be expected given the tough child development years they had all experienced and that was who cares about such things, they are meaningless in the framework of their own lives and existence. I asked them why this was so and their reply was again symptomatic of the child care system in Hungary which in part was a left over from the communist eras approach to societal responsibility – who gives a damn.
As the conversation wore on they asked me to describe UK youth and the English residential child care system that I have spent my entire professional life in. After a while some started to ask questions about equality within the care system and within society in general. One young lady asked me how sexually abused girls were treated in the UK and they were a taken aback to hear how they were treated as victims rather than as responsible for it happening in the first place which was their own experiences and even further amazed to hear that youth work approaches were built on a foundation of helping young people understand and achieve self actualisation once I had explained what this meant.
As the evening wore on, some drifted off to their tents leaving myself with several adult educators and six young people, two females and four males of which two were the Romany’s that were involved in the rescue incident. By 3am we were still talking about a wide variety of issues relating to youth work and youth development when
Billy spoke up after a long time in deep thought and with tears in his eyes he said:-
“As a Romany I have been brought up to think of myself as a second class citizen, unworthy of love or attention from anyone including my own parents who abandoned me when I was four years of age. I have always believed that all Romany’s were seen by everyone else as worthless people with no contribution to society let alone to an employer. What I did the other day has filled me with a feeling that I am frightened of as I now know it to be pride and self respect. Frank said earlier that every selfless act is worthy of celebration and an indication that the spirit within is pure. I have no idea what to do with this feeling which is churning inside me but what I do know is that when I was trying to stop than man from deliberately drowning, it was because I recognised that his life too should have meaning. I now acknowledge that the reason both men wanted to die right there was because they too as Romany’s felt useless and of no value and certainly not worth anyone risking their life to save their own. This is not good enough.”
In that one moment, I realised what Vision Quests should be about for modern day youth. It should be a celebration of being a human being, of being an individual who has the right to be seen, heard, respected and recognised for who they are not for what their ethnicity or family background is or is not.
On the very last day of the expedition, we had one final group meeting. It was clear by how the young people conducted themselves within the group and how they interacted with one another, that the dynamics of the group had changed dramatically. When Billy spoke, he was listened to in earnest and when others said that the highlight of the trip was when the group actively got involved in saving the life of two adults and two children, no one disagreed indeed they even said they should be proud of themselves. This for the Educators was a major breakthrough for the group and the individuals within it and whilst it is highly probable that they would all return to their previous life style and presenting behaviours, they had been changed inside for ever and not least Billy who decided he would not lead his life ashamed to be Romany or to be treated as a second class citizen. 
Billy’s decision would take a lot of effort on his part as he was facing a whole society whose feelings about Romany’s had been built up over the centuries but at least he had made a conscious decision to believe otherwise which is the first life long step to self actualisation on whatever level he sees it happening or his level of understanding about what this really meant.
For my part, what I witnessed was an unplanned Rite of Passage on Billy’s part as he came to the realisation that he did have value as a human being and clearly helped him move away from a position of harbouring self contempt because he was a Romany with all that this brought, to a position where he saw himself as being equally worthy as everyone else and second to non in relation to his standing in the society and world he occupies.
In this respect, Billy had emotionally and intellectually grown to a point where he was starting to realise that he is an individual and one that has a rightful place in society irrespective of his ethnicity or birth circumstances.
This trip was for all intents and purposes, Billy’s Vision Quest even if he did not know it at the start of the expedition and the resultant incident and discussion was his Rite of Passage.
This particular incident was unique in that it does not happen every day but when it does occur, it clearly demonstrates how potent such involvement can be to the individual. This aside, I wonder just how other less dramatic incidents can be used by practitioners to achieve similar ends and outcomes! Indeed, if we as a society have any real interest in helping young people see the value of being a full member of society so that they in turn can adopt the same approach to young people when they inherit and become the status quo, then lets stop playing about and discuss having a unified Rite of Passage programme which has value and meaning, and, signifies total inclusion into something that is recognised as worthy of being a member of.
It is clear, that the world of the 21st century and beyond will be unlike any we have known. Therefore, if we are serious in our intentions to prepare and support such marginalised individuals in order for them to grow positively and confidently within the world they are inextricably a part of, then we have no choice but to tackle the issue head on.
The least we can therefore do is to help develop their capacity to learn as much as is humanly possible so that they can be appropriately equipped for whatever challenges they meet along their difficult ‘journey’ and ease into citizenship if this is what they want.
To aid us in this endeavour, we already have the ability and capabilities to tackle this issue on seven fronts:
1]Both compulsory and post compulsory education should in itself, provide all members of society with the skills and ‘tools’ they will need for their life’s journey irrespective of their social status, academic ability, or functioning levels of intellect.
In essence, experiential education (under any guise or terminology) should be viewed as an essential part of the wider holistic educational curriculum, both within and without a formalised educational setting. In this respect, adventure activities under any guise or heading, should not be seen as the ‘poor brother’ of any statutory, voluntary or charitable service.
Such an approach would go some way in helping to identify and develop personal qualities essential to the education of the ‘whole’ person and also provide an important spiritual dimension which can be continued to be nurtured when the young individual is back in their family/school and local community..
There can also be no doubt, that participation in a wide variety of experiential educational activities, can strengthen self-confidence, improve relationships and encourage good judgement. As a result, individuals will be better able to develop the values, skills and understandings that will help them move towards social inclusion and hopefully, responsible citizenship which in turn will prepare them for parenthood and in this respect, break any cycle of behaviour presentation from their children.
2]In the social context, many marginalised individuals may become disaffected and  disenfranchised from formal learning as well as  feeling that they are not an active or valued contributing member of society, let alone within the local community they live in. Within this context, if an individual has no ties, no bonds, no respect for their local community or society at large, they we should not expect them to behave in any other way that disenfranchised, dissociated and disconnected.
Social as well as educational exclusion is in itself, a major barrier to learning and therefore to change taking place. In this context therefore, some individuals may fail to reach their full potential as an individual, or, as a valued member of their wider community that is so vital to instilling a sense of respect, for both the self and for others. This in turn may lead the individual into a lifestyle based on a self-fulfilling prophesy.
For example, basing their inter-personal relationships on the ‘false’ belief, that they don’t deserve help, that they are in fact bad, mad or useless and therefore a waste of space, or that they are not loveable or likeable as a person and as no one shows respect to them, then they don’t need to show or give respect to others. In this context, they may believe that there is no reason to behave otherwise or to change their disposition or demeanour.
In this scenario, the individual may well become trapped in a downward spiral leading them into possible depression, self-destructive behaviour, anti-social behaviour patterns, or even into a negative mental health well being crises.  
We should therefore recognise the contribution experiential experiences within the adventure activity medium, can make in motivating such individuals to develop their social skills which in turn will allow them to reconnect back to the value of life long ‘learning’ and more importantly, to positive self-discovery.
Furthermore, experiential experience elicits and encourages a responsible attitude towards excitement and risk which may replace other forms of excitement seeking and the need for a constant adrenalin rush, or of ‘living life on the edge’.
Of course, by involving young people in specific programmes tailor made to address specific issues and problems they may be harbouring, should and could be done through a variety of programmes which we understand to be Therapy or Therapeutic in nature and delivery. This in no way detracts from the value of engaging that same young person on an experiential educational programme, an adventure based counselling programme or an adventure activities programme, they are all as important to that individual as each other and should not be viewed in any other light.
3] In the business world, employers readily identify those personal qualities required in a work force so essential whether we like it or not, to safeguard survival in a financially driven market economy.
The ability to work as part of a team, to take orders and respond accordingly and to eventually lead others in pursuit of economic growth, requires among other attributes:-good communication and listening skills, effective interpersonal skills, an ability to recognise the need for change, to overcome challenges, and, to utilise initiative, drive and motivation not only in themselves but in others.
Experiential educational activities can be a most effective way of developing these qualities within individuals just as running corporate development programmes.
4]Utilising the natural environment, within which to carry out adventure activities for learning, for therapeutic purpose on any level for individual or group development, or, just to allow others to experience or re-discover a ‘lost childhood’, is just one approach to providing a unique opportunity in supporting individuals as they explore their natural surroundings. Such an approach would allow for individuals to safely explore themselves as a valued functioning individual. It is here that self esteem, self worth and self value can be increased naturally let alone the value when it is connected to other specific goals and targets.
Within such programmes, individuals can learn to appreciate natural resources, understand the importance of conservation, and, to be aware of the finely balanced relationship between humanity and the sensitive eco-system that exists on our planet. This again can lead to responsible citizenship when they begin to understand the value of nature, our natural environment and how and what they can do as an individual to support conservation, environmental sustainability and other similar aims.
5] In sport and recreational terms, both group and individual activities can become a route through which all individuals may be introduced to a wide range of physical and aesthetically rewarding sports, hobbies and leisure activities.
Many adventure activities are built around non competitiveness, although within all adventure activities, for those seeking competition, a niche can always be found.
Outdoor activities may be pursued at any level of difficulty, allowing for progression from beginner to high levels of excellence. In essence, activities cater for every age range, for every behavioural manifestation, and for every level of intellect and physical ability and capability.
Such activities are also ideal for life-long participation at a variety of levels and may of course, open ‘doors’ into other mediums and areas for individuals to grow and develop. However, if the young person is removed from their living environment in order to participate in a programme that aims among other goals, to bring about some positive decision making process and then returned without family/local community and statutory support systems in place, then the initial exercise will have been nothing more than an excuse to run a programme for no reason at all other than to satisfy some external need and I do not mean that of the young participant. 
All sports, whether they are undertaken indoors or out of doors, whether they are individualistic or team events, encourage active healthy lifestyles, benefiting each individual as well as society, and can be an effective tool for building self-esteem and instilling feelings of self-worth and value to the self and to others. In essence, respect for the self and respect for others.,
Adventure therapy, therapeutic adventure, experiential education, adventure activities, outdoor education, field studies, wilderness therapy or whatever name you wish to call what you do, can be a cost effective ‘tool’ in aiding partial or full recovery from unresolved trauma issues, let alone help individual to make life changing decisions.
Without doubt, the most debilitating characteristic of human development is clearly seen with individuals who suffer from some form of mental illness or negative well being. Irrespective of such issues being either short term