Journal of

Leisurability

Volume 22 Number
2
Spring 1995
[Home]

Adventure Programming
Adventure Therapy and the Addictive Process
Christian ltin *
Case Example (1)
John is a middle-aged white male who is in treatment for alcohol abuse. During
treatment, John discussed growing up with an alcoholic father who would beat him and
his mother. He expressed concern about his own history of violence toward women.
John has had numerous relationships with women and has also expressed a desire to
look at the possibility of his issues around intimacy. John is participating in a four day
wilderness based adventure therapy program that is a part of his current alcohol
treatment.
The group is made up of 11 other people from the treatment program. As a warm up to
the adventure experiences, the facilitator engages the group in several ice-breakers and
warm-up games. During an initial game, John is unwilling to fully participate. He
expresses concern that these activities are childish and have no relevance to his
treatment. As the games continue, John is encouraged by other participants to
participate. The group takes responsibility for inviting him to be a part of the activity.
John's participation changes from marginal involvement to active engagement. As John
participates, he begins to laugh and allow others to be involved with him.
As the adventure therapy continues, the group is engaged in problem-solving initiatives.
During the first initiative, John attempts to control the activity and order his peers
around. He is confronted by other group members about this behavior. John
acknowledges his tendency to dominate and take charge. The group expresses concern
that John does this to remain isolated from the group. During subsequent activities, he
explores various ways to act within the group.
Further in the adventure therapy process, John is provided the opportunity to participate
in a trust walk [2] with a peer. During the walk John is blindfolded and is being led by
his peer. He initially attempts to lead his guide or go in his own way. Both John and his
guide are frustrated and becoming increasingly angry. The activity is stopped and both
participants are asked to explore what is happening. John tells the group that he has
trouble trusting other people, especially men. John's guide shares how difficult it is to
provide support and guidance when John won't let his guard down. John and his partner
choose to engage in the trust walk again. The second time John allows his partner to lead

him.
After the trust walk, the group proceeds to the ropes course [3]. John asks for the support
of the person who led him on the trust walk. On a challenging activity, John is gripped
with fear. With support from his peers, he is able to work with this fear and to continue
on with the activity. John is willing to allow himself to be supported and helped by his
peers.
The program ends with an overnight solo [4] experience. After the solo, John shares with
the group that he is sorry for some of his actions during the program. He acknowledges a
need to work on issues of trust and intimacy and sees how he tends to take control when
he feels powerless, rather than asking for support. He talks about how support helped
him during the trust walk and on the ropes course.
Introduction
The proceeding case example is an illustration of adventure therapy. Adventure therapy
is the use of adventure based experiential education activities to help people resolve
issues that are negatively affecting them. Adventure therapy helps people make changes
in their lives through building upon their strengths. People are offered the opportunity to
challenge themselves to engage in new (or rediscovered) behaviors. The person can
successfully deal with these challenges with the group. In adventure therapy, the person
is provided with real experiences that can be drawn upon to make the changes necessary
in his or her life. Much of the development in adventure therapy began with the
treatment of addictions (Chase, 1981).
The Addictive Process
Addictions have been considered most in relation to the those who abuse substances
(drugs and alcohol). However, many of the themes in the recovery from the abuse of
substances are relevant in the treatment of other forms of abuse. The term addictive
process will be used in this article to refer to the range of activities, behaviors or themes
that can be classified as going along with addictions (gambling, sex, relationships).
Addictive process will also be used to refer to the activities and behaviors that go along
with the abuse of people (sexual abuse, physical abuse, other forms of violence); and
those who have been affected by these activities or behaviors (those who live or grew up
with substance abusers, survivors of sexual assault, and veterans of war). The addictive
process will be used to name those activities, behaviors or themes that are present in the
lives of people negatively affected by some form of abuse.
The addictive process is a deathoriented process, one that prevents people from living
life fully. An addiction for this article will be considered the use of any substance,
activity or behavior that one has become powerless over and that has made one's life
unmanageable. The person is negatively affected by the repetitive abuse of a substance,
activity or behavior to such a degree that the person no longer has control. Furthermore,
the addiction becomes increasingly central to the person's life, taking more and more of
the person's energy. The addictive process, as previously stated, are those activities,

behaviors and themes that go along with addictions. The addictive process goes beyond
the simple activity of the addiction and speaks to how the person begins to live his or her
life. The behaviors of an addictive process focus around 6 primary areas (Itin & Gault,
1989):
1) Denial/Dishonesty:
A core element of any addictive process is dishonesty. The dishonesty of the addictive
process is not simply lies, but includes elements of exaggeration, minimizing, projection,
and delusion. At the core of any addictive process is an attempt to avoid acknowledging
that the person is engaged in an addictive process. If a person is using alcohol they will
often hide this from those around them. Similarly if someone is a victim of sexual abuse
they will often hide this from themselves and others.
2) Trust:
Those affected by addictive process have issues of trust on either end of a continuum.
On one end of the continuum is trusting inappropriately (trusting another even when this
trust is not earned or deserved); on the other end of the continuum is not trusting
anybody (even when this trust is earned and deserved). This difficulty with trust can be
viewed as difficulty with intimacy or allowing oneself to be close to another person. As
one has to be dishonest about what is happening it forces a person to distrust those
around them. An other person may feel so violated by the events that have occurred to
them that they don't know whom they can or can't trust.
3) Control:
The addictive process produces issues related to control. Because the addictive process
involves feeling powerless over elements within one's life, abusers and those abused
tend to take control over other things. There may be an attempt to take control over
events that they have little or no control over. There may be a high degree of rigidity in
their style of dealing with other people. The attempts to control are an illusion that the
person's life is not unmanageable. Others may feel so demoralized by their inability to
control the addiction that they give up all control and play the role of victim.
4) Feelings:
The addictive process requires that a person becomes separate from their emotions. The
use of substances themselves numb a person's feelings. The intensity of the experience
that the person is dealing with may also cause the person to become numb to the feelings
involved in the situation and eventually all situations. This does not mean that a person
will feel no emotion, rather they may limit themselves to one or two emotions that
theyfeel most comfortable with. For example, a person may feel only anger, or only
sadness regardless of the appropriateness of the emotion.
5) Thinking Patterns:
To maintain the elements of control, separation of feelings, and denial the person dealing
with the addictive process must develop ways of thinking which support the addictive
process. These thinking patterns tend to be rigid, dualistic (either/or) and obsessive

(intrusive or repetitive).
6) Low Self Worth/Esteem:
People dealing with the addictive process generally are affected by low self-worth and
self esteem. This is to say that people will look outside themselves for validation. There
is a tendency to react rather than act. There is also a sense of isolation and avoidance of
others. The loss of self-esteem is a direct result of the addictive process.
7) Spirituality:
Spirituality is a relationship with something outside oneself. This can be viewed as a
lack of real concern for others, a high degree of self-centeredness, a lack of belief in
anything outside oneself and a lack of belief in ones own moral or value system. The
addictive process will often cause a person to loose connections with those outside the
addictive process (e.g., those who are not abusing substances or involved in the abusive
relationship). Furthermore there will often be a loss of a belief in a higher power.
Elements of Adventure Therapy
Adventure therapy can be broken into five substantive areas. These five areas include: 1)
Games; 2) Initiatives; 3) Trust Activities; 4) Ropes Courses; 5) Wilderness Activities.
Areas 1-4 have been considered together under the term challenge courses or ropes
courses (Rohnke, 1989), adventure-based counseling (Schoel, Prouty & Radcliffe ,
1988), and adventurebased therapy (Gass, 1993). Wilderness activities have been
refereed to as Wilderness Therapy (Davis-Berman & Berman, 1994). The central shared
characteristic of these five areas, is a perceived element of risk on the part of the
participant. The participant is asked to experience something unknown and unfamiliar.
This element of the unknown presents the participant with the opportunity to challenge
themselves to experience something new, or to experience themselves in a new situation.
Because there is an element of the unknown the therapy takes on a sense of adventure. A
second common element to the five areas is the inability or difficulty in accomplishing
the activities alone or without support of others. These two elements combine to make
the therapy experience a participatory adventure for both the participants and the
therapist. The therapist joins with the participants in that he or she does not know what
exactly will occur in the therapy process.
Games within the adventure therapy context include any activity that has as its primary
purpose to have fun. The games in the adventure therapy context are primarily noncompetitive, often asking the participant to place themselves in a new or uncomfortable
situation (e.g., new games, cooperative games, word games). Games address the issues
of the addictive process in several ways. Because games require an element of
spontaneity they challenge the predominant paradigm of remaining in control and not
having fun. The non-competitive and group orientation of the games promotes a sense of
connection between people. This connection serves to develop trust and can enhance a
person's spiritual connection to other people. For example a cooperative tag game such
as blob tags [5] requires individual members of a group to work together. The fact that
the tag game is cooperative also challenges the traditional paradigm of a win/lose
perspective that contributes to some of the destructive thinking pattern of the addictive

process. As we saw in the case example, John was able to be invited into the group
process by the group and as he participated his level of involvement in the group grew.
This participation began the process of building trust and changing the paradigm that
games are child's play.
Initiatives have as a central component the need for participants to work together to
solve a problem. The activities are termed initiatives because they generally rely on the
group's initiative to solve the problem. These activities were originally developed to
prepare participants for the type of problem solving skills they would need in wilderness
based activities (e.g., crossing rivers with minimal supplies, navigating an obstacle,
retrieving an item with limited supplies). Initiatives deepen the ability to help people
address issues around control, trust, feelings, thinking patterns and spirituality.
Initiatives are usually set up to be successful. The success orientation of initiative
activities and the process of working together with others can help develop a person's
self-esteem and self-worth. As people see that they can work together to solve difficult
problems they begin to feel more empowered in their abilities.
Initiatives can further be tailored to meet the needs of addiction and the issues of the
addictive process through metaphoric introductions, and other introduction techniques.
Metaphoric introductions rely on setting up an activity so that it is more likely to be
similar to the experience of the person doing the activity. For example an activity such
as spider's webs [6] can be framed to be about the addictive process. The web becomes
the web of addiction with the pervasiveness of the addictive process. One of the critical
aspects of the activity is how the group deals with the honesty of whether any member
touches the web and what they do when a touch is made. The activity becomes about
how to work with others to not be caught up in the addictive process. It becomes about
how one avoids being tangled up in the addictive process and allows others to support
the recovery process.
Trust activities have as a central component requiring participants to work together to
support each other in a difficult activity. The level of support required involves literally
placing one's trust in another person to hold and support the other (e.g., falling into the
arms of the group, being led blindfolded). Clearly trust activities will affect the element
of trust, but additionally these activities affect spirituality because they demand a
relationship with the other participants. There is the natural metaphor of letting go of
control and choosing to do so. This metaphor can be further brought forth through
appropriate introductions. The dramatic nature of the activities can also allow people to
reconnect with feelings. For example the trust fall [7] can be framed as an activity
involving letting go of a behavior, thinking pattern, or feeling that is not working for the
person. As the person let's go to fall into the arms of the group the person is letting go of
that which is limiting them. The activity can be further strengthened to be about the
group supporting the person in a new way of acting, thinking, or feeling that is healthy
for the person. As we saw in the case example, John had to make a choice to let go and
allow himself to be supported and led by a peer.

Ropes course activities may be thought of as elements or obstacles that challenge an

individual but require the support of others. They involve a level of trust and of initiative
(e.g., walking across a log 40 feet in the air, walking on a wire using a rope for
assistance). The dramatic nature of ropes courses can affect all six areas of the addictive
process in positive ways. For example the beam [8] allows a person to address issues of
trusting oneself and trusting the support system that would prevent a fall to the ground.
The activity can help the person to address issues of appropriate trust and appropriate
risk taking. In the case example, John was able to work with the powerful emotion of
fear and to work through this feeling. Rather than attempting to take control or get angry
he worked through the fear with the support of his peers.
Wilderness activities are all those activities that occur in the wilderness or natural
environment utilizing the challenges presented by the natural environment (e.g., rock
climbing, white water activities, backpacking). Wilderness activities can be even more
dramatic than other aspects of adventure therapy. Besides the adventure component there
is also a connection with the natural world. This connection with the natural world can
deepen the therapeutic impact of the programming. Miles (1993) discussed the healing
benefits of wilderness. Citing the work of Kaplan and Talbot, Miles indicated that
wilderness can help reestablish a proper relationship with control. Miles goes on to
discuss how the wilderness can increase self-esteem and self-worth and decrease feeling
of alienation. Furthermore the wilderness can increase feelings of joy and pleasure. An
example of the use of the wilderness is the solos [9]. During a solo the person may be
provided with an opportunity to reexamine the changes they have made in treatment.
They may be provided with the opportunity to take an inventory of their assets and the
issue they want to work on. The case example illustrates how John was able to draw
connections between many of his experiences and the issues of his recovery.
Adventure Therapy Process
The use of any one or all these five areas does not constitute adventure therapy. To be
engaged in adventure therapy the practitioner must have as the intent and a plan to help
the person facilitate a change in behavior, affect, or cognition that is negatively affecting
a person's ability to live life in the manner they wish to. There must also be an explicit
agreement between the participant and the practitioner that change is needed. The
practitioner must then purposefully use the activity to provide the participant with an
opportunity to change in the desired direction.
Adventure therapy attempts to build upon a person's strengths to address both the current
issues affecting recovery and those that may arise later in recovery. The basic model
provides people with opportunities and skills to deal with difficult situations. The model
assumes that people can draw upon the experiences presented in the adventure context to
cope with difficult situations in the addictive process. In the context of working with the
addictive process adventure experiences allow the person to address issues of denial,
trust, control, feelings, self-esteem, and spirituality. Through addressing these issues in
the adventure situation a person is provided with opportunities to transfer their issues to

real life situations.

One of the powerful elements of adventure therapy is to break through much of the
denial that surrounds addictive processes. The dramatic nature of adventure activities
and the heavy use of peer support provides a mirror for the person to experience
themselves in a new way. Mechanisms that an individual uses to prevent themselves
from confronting the addictive process are exposed within the context of a supportive
group experience based on addressing the issues of trust. Throughout therapy the person
is provided with experiences that provoke strong feelings and encouraged to experience
and share these feelings. Because the therapy builds upon the strengths of the person, the
person is able to address issues of self-esteem and self-worth.
Within adventure therapy people are able to experience how they are not only
responsible for their actions but how these actions impact others. If a person does not put
on a rain jacket in a cold rain; not only will they get cold and wet, but their condition
will affect the group. The group might have to stop an activity to treat the client's
hypothermia or address the person's condition. This event can become a natural
metaphor for the person's effect on others in the addictive process. If the person is an
alcoholic their drinking not only affects them; but also affects others. The activities
provide an opportunity to experience the addictive process in different ways and to act
on these experiences differently. It is the opportunity to experience the situation
differently that provide the opportunity for change.
Adventure Therapy Programs
When considering adventure therapy programs it is important to know how a service is
offered, who should provide the service, and how the service is integrated into existing
treatment options. Adventure therapy in which people address issues related to the
addictive processes may occur in many different settings. Adventure therapy may be
adjunctive, that is used as a supplement to some other treatment. If adventure therapy is
adjunctive then it is not seen as the main part of the treatment but rather as supporting or
reinforcing other treatment activities. Adjunctive therapy does not mean that the
treatment is of lower quality or of less importance; only that adventure is not the main
treatment option.
Adventure therapy as an adjunct to treatment began with the Colorado Outward Bound's
Alcohol and Drug Courses (CAD). This program began at St. Luke's Hospital in 1978. It
was a four day experience offered to patients as a part of a 28 day inpatient treatment
program. The program was adjunctive in that primary treatment staff were usually not a
part of the treatment process that occurred on the 4-day Outward Bound course. This
adjunctive process has continued to include programming for survivors of sexual assault,
Vietnam veterans, perpetrators of abuse, and people with eating disorders.
In some cases, adventure therapy may be the primary treatment. When adventure therapy
is the primary treatment it is the main form of treatment used. For example the entire
treatment may occur in a wilderness setting where the participant is helped to explore

the issues that are important for them completely within the context of the adventure
therapy experience.
One of the first primary treatment programs was created by Hurricane Island Outward
Bound School and Beech Hill Hospital. This program used a standard multi-element
model (several different wilderness environments) as the primary device for the delivery
of treatment. Addiction counselors along with Outward Bound staff jointly delivered all
aspects of the program. The adventure therapy and wilderness therapy aspects of the
program were central to all aspects of treatment. The elements of the course were used to
address all aspects of the addictive process. Traditional drug and alcohol counseling
were weaved into the overall program.
Adventure Therapy programs are offered in many different ways to people seeking these
services. An adventure therapy program may exist as an independent service, an
independent program within a hospital, or as a part of an experiential therapy department
(art therapy, music therapy, psychodrama, movement therapy, recreational). Some
programs may integrate adventure therapy in varying degrees from adjunctive to
primary. Adventure therapy can be seen as more primary to the degree that adventure
activities are integrated into overall treatment planning, staff conducting adventure
therapy are trained clinical staff, and other treatment staff participate and are involved in
adventure experiences. Adventure experiences can be seen as adjunctive to the degree
that these elements are not present.
Independent programs may offer their services directly to the person or through
contracts to other agencies. Many wilderness treatment programs are completely
independent programs. When independent programs offer their services through
contracts to other mental health agencies or hospitals, they are often adjunctive. These
programs are often not fully integrated into the inpatient or outpatient programming
offered by the agency. Adventure therapy programs located within a mental health
agency or a hospital are not necessarily more integrated than contract agencies. The
integration is directly affected by treatment philosophy. When a treatment program has a
philosophy that values and is compatible with adventure therapy, then adventure therapy
can be fully integrated into the treatment of the addictive process.
Adventure therapy programs may be effective as adjunctive or primary treatment. The
distinction is important in understanding how and where services are offered. It also
begins to identify who is offering adventure therapy services. Within all these programs
actual adventure therapy services are offered by a range practitioners. Adventure therapy
practitioners may include people with extensive wilderness or adventure training but
limited formal human service training and individuals with extensive training in one of
many human service professions but with limited adventure experience. Unfortunately
there are also some practitioners who have limited training in both the adventure and
human services. Obviously the more highly skilled the practitioner is in both the
adventure skills and the human service skills, the better the treatment is likely to be.
Furthermore it is advisable if the person has specific training and experience in working

with the addictive process.

The person considering adventure therapy as a part of the treatment of the addictive
process will want to consider how the service is offered, who is offering it and the
qualifications of those offering the service. The consumer will want to do this because of
the variety of ways that adventure therapy can be effectively offered. This overview will
give you some starting places in the decision making process related to choosing an
adventure therapy program.
Conclusion
Adventure therapy offers a great deal to the treatment of the addictive process. It is
effective in the treatment of the addictive process whether it is related to the abuse of
substances, the abuse of a process, or being the survivor of a relationship that was
abusive. Adventure therapy can address the critical issues related to the addictive
process. Adventure therapy is a productive way to address issues of trust, control,
feelings, destructive thinking patterns, low self esteem, and spirituality. It offers a
dynamic and creative way to engage a person in a participatory adventure that builds
upon their strengths to make the changes necessary for them to live their life in a more
full manner.
Any professional considering referrals to adventure therapy programs, adding this
therapy technique to their practice, or other involvement in adventure therapy should
explore the programs and practitioners closely. An excellent resource for the practitioner
interested in this field is the Association for Experiential Education's Therapeutic
Adventure Professional Group [10]. Practitioners are encouraged to explore the use of
adventure therapy as a modality in their work with all aspects of the addictive processes.
References
Chase, N.K. (1981). Outward Bound as an adjunct to therapy. Denver, CO: Colorado
Outward Bound School.
Davis-Berman, J., & Berman, D.S. (1994).
Wilderness therapy: Foundations, theory & research. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt
Publishing Company.
Gass, M.A. (Ed.). (1993). Adventure therapy: Therapeutic applications of adventure
programming. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Itin, C., & Gault, L. (1989). Addiction, recovery and experiential therapy. Different
pathways, one world, the 17th international conference of the Association for
Experiential Education. October 27-30, Santa Fe, NM.
Miles, J. (1993). Wilderness as a healing place. In M. A. Gass (Ed.), Adventure therapy:

Therapeutic applications of adventure programming. (pp. 4355). Dubuque, IA:

Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Rohnke, K. (1989). Cowstails and cobras &A guide to games, initiatives, ropes courses
& adventure curriculum. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Schoel, J., Prouty, D., & Radcliffe, P. (1988). Islands of healing: A guide to adventure
based counseling. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

* Christian [tin, MSW is a social work doctoral student at the University of Denver in
Denver Colorado. His work includes over 12 years in the field of adventure therapy
including 9 years working with addictions. He has worked for inpatient treatment
programs and wilderncs5 treatment programs associated with several Outward Bound
Schools, 1350 Balsam Ave., Boulder, CO 80304, USA.
1. This case example is a composite picture of my experience with many people dealing
with recovery from the addictive process in adventure therapy contexts.
2. A trust walk involves one participant being blindfolded and being led by a sited peer.
The activity is often done in silence.
3. The ropes course is a series of obstacles that are up in the air some 30-40 feet.
4. Solo is an opportunity for people to spend time alone in a wilderness environment for
a given amount of time.
5. Blob tag involves one person being "it". As this person tags other people they join
hands and become a single "blob". The attempt is to make everyone a part of the "blob".
6. Spider's web involves the group getting itself from one side of a web of string to the
other without touching the string.
7. The trust fall involves falling from shoulder height into the arms of the group.
8. The Beam usually consists of a pole suspended 30-40 ft. in the air. The beam is
usually 10-15 ft. long.
9. Solo is an activity that involves a person spending time alone in the wilderness. The
time may vary from a few hours to several days.
10. Association for Experiential Education, 2885 Aurora Ave. #28, Boulder, CO, USA
80302-2252.

> Next Article

Other articles from this issue:

Editorial
Feature Article
If I Conduct Outdoor Pursuits With Clinical Populations, Am I an Adventure Therapist?
Lee Gillis
Support Article
Universal Adventure Programming: Opening Our Programs To People With Physical
Disabilities
Tricia Terry
Sharing Program Ideas
Adventure Therapy
Adventure As Psychotherapy: A Mental Health Perspective
Dene Berman and Jennifer Davis-Berman
Current Research
Self-concept, Attitude and Satisfaction Benefits of Outdoor Adventure Activities: The
Case for Recreational Kayaking
Doug Nichols and Leanna Fines
Book Reviews
Integrated Outdoor Education and Adventure Programs
Schleien, S. McAvoy, L. Lais, G. & Rynders
Adventure therapy: Therapeutic Applications of Adventure Programming
Gass, M. A.

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