Adventure Program

When teachers attend education courses, they learn that every student is unique and processes and remembers information differently. Some are visual learners, others prefer audio, while others perform better when they write everything down or are more hands-on. Therapy is no exception.

For some people, sitting on a chair in therapy can seem annoying. That’s where adventure therapy comes in.

In the mid-1940s, Campbell Loughmiller developed the Salesmanship Club Camp while German educator Kurt Hahn created the Outward Bound program. Both of these are considered two of the greatest influences on adventure therapy.

In his Salesman Club Camp, Loughmiller argued that when individuals are put in a dangerous environment, they learn more about cooperation and natural consequences than if they were to read about them from a book. On the same note, Hahn believed that students that deal with more challenging experiences could better discover and understand their capabilities.

Taught under Hahn and inspired by him, Josh Miner introduced the Outward Bound program in the United States and opened a 35-student school in Colorado, in 1962. Likewise, the Outward Bound School influenced Project Adventure, a system developed by Mary Smith, a social worker, and Paul Radcliffe, a school psychologist. Together, the two created adventure therapy interventions and activities that include cooperative games and brought them into the American classrooms.

Outward Bound now has programs for teens, young adults, and training programs throughout the United States and other countries in the world.

• Conflicted families
• Individuals with low self-esteem
• Adolescents with substance abuse issues or behavioral issues
• Juvenile offenders
• Anger management issues

• Eating disorders
• Trauma recovery
• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Adults with substance abuse issues

So far, the benefits of adventure therapy include:

• Increased communication skills
• Learning teamwork
• Learning to trust oneself and others
• Leadership skills
• Improved self-esteem
• Problem-solving skills

• Sense of worthiness and self-confidence
• Learning to give and receive feedback
• Learning boundaries
• Learning to help and be helped
• Stepping outside of your comfort zone
• Discovering strengths and weaknesses