From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing

Adventure therapy (AT) uses outdoor modalities that immerse clients in natural environments and challenging outdoor experiences to improve psychological dysfunctions in emotion, behavior, and life effectiveness skills. The healing power of AT rests on the therapeutic factors of the natural world, th...

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Main Author: Lee, Ken Kok Wai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: INTI Publishing House Sdn Bhd 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/297/
http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/297/1/2005_7.pdf
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author Lee, Ken Kok Wai
author_facet Lee, Ken Kok Wai
author_sort Lee, Ken Kok Wai
building INTI Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Adventure therapy (AT) uses outdoor modalities that immerse clients in natural environments and challenging outdoor experiences to improve psychological dysfunctions in emotion, behavior, and life effectiveness skills. The healing power of AT rests on the therapeutic factors of the natural world, the role of the treatment team and the effective and intentional use of adventure therapy tools. The AT practitioner ¡s both a competent adventurer and professional helper who helps clients begin their process of personal change. The effects of AT are growth-producing and will take them on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It also reduces the reference to the stigma clients assign to traditional forms of therapy. AT interventions tend to be solution- focused and humanistic in their orientation, although many programmes also have important behavioral underpinnings, particularly for programmes involving delinquent youths, conduct disorder, low self-esteem, oppositional defiance, adjustment disorder, bipolarity, grief, chemical dependency and dysfunctional families. AT has been purported to be a potentially unique therapeutic modality that can be used either independently or as an adjunct to other forms of psychotherapy. AT programmes perceive clients with innate goodness and having the resources needed for change. They can be guided to know where and how to access them to make the desired change. This paper also examines the way and the conditions under which adventure activities can become therapeutic. It determines change as a central concept in the therapeutic process. The foundations of adventure therapy, its rationale and strategies, and therapeutic factors are discussed. In addition, it illustrates a local case of AT in practice and introduces the potential use of AT in the Programme Khidmat Negara (PKN) (National Service Programme) in Malaysia. This paper includes some timely recommendations in working with youths who are on the PKN programme in order to deal with problem behaviors and to obtain long lasting change.
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spelling intimal-2972016-05-17T02:37:13Z http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/297/ From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing Lee, Ken Kok Wai HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare Adventure therapy (AT) uses outdoor modalities that immerse clients in natural environments and challenging outdoor experiences to improve psychological dysfunctions in emotion, behavior, and life effectiveness skills. The healing power of AT rests on the therapeutic factors of the natural world, the role of the treatment team and the effective and intentional use of adventure therapy tools. The AT practitioner ¡s both a competent adventurer and professional helper who helps clients begin their process of personal change. The effects of AT are growth-producing and will take them on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It also reduces the reference to the stigma clients assign to traditional forms of therapy. AT interventions tend to be solution- focused and humanistic in their orientation, although many programmes also have important behavioral underpinnings, particularly for programmes involving delinquent youths, conduct disorder, low self-esteem, oppositional defiance, adjustment disorder, bipolarity, grief, chemical dependency and dysfunctional families. AT has been purported to be a potentially unique therapeutic modality that can be used either independently or as an adjunct to other forms of psychotherapy. AT programmes perceive clients with innate goodness and having the resources needed for change. They can be guided to know where and how to access them to make the desired change. This paper also examines the way and the conditions under which adventure activities can become therapeutic. It determines change as a central concept in the therapeutic process. The foundations of adventure therapy, its rationale and strategies, and therapeutic factors are discussed. In addition, it illustrates a local case of AT in practice and introduces the potential use of AT in the Programme Khidmat Negara (PKN) (National Service Programme) in Malaysia. This paper includes some timely recommendations in working with youths who are on the PKN programme in order to deal with problem behaviors and to obtain long lasting change. INTI Publishing House Sdn Bhd 2005 Article PeerReviewed text en http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/297/1/2005_7.pdf Lee, Ken Kok Wai (2005) From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing. INTI Journal, 1 (5). pp. 417-431. ISSN 1675-0284
spellingShingle HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Lee, Ken Kok Wai
From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing
title From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing
title_full From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing
title_fullStr From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing
title_full_unstemmed From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing
title_short From Adventure to Therapy: A Model for Healing
title_sort from adventure to therapy: a model for healing
topic HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
url http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/297/
http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/297/1/2005_7.pdf