I was teaching at Regina Pacis Catholic Secondary school in Toronto--about 20 years ago. My friend Bernie Zweerman and I were asked by the principal to bring a group of kids to Bark Lake for a week. I jumped at the chance. Bark Lake at the time, it has since been privatized, was a government outdoor education facility. This was my first introduction to adventure based counseling and the use of the wilderness and various physical obstacles such as a high-ropes course to teach and improve or support therapy. I've been working at it ever since.
On Tuesday I visited Wendigo for a day-program with six students and two friends. Eric Crowther and Marg Goodwin are two Masters Level therapists (they work with HANDS) run a cognitive behavioural therapy program for anxious teens. Two years ago they invited me to join their group and help out with the adventure activities and pedagogy of teaching cbt to teens. They are two fantastic people.
This event was special for me. I have known for quite some time that experiential education and adventure therapy are effective in creating positive relationships between teachers and students and fosters an environment where learning happens. It is difficult to bring adventure into a traditional classroom and be effective. You can go on a hike, but what is really happening? To be effective the activity has to have a lot of intentional programming involved, and that takes time, talent and a team of people to carry the load.
Working with Eric and Marg has been the coolest thing I have done in a while. They are talented. They know their stuff. Their cbt group lasts for 18 weeks--time enough to work with the kids. After our first year together we agreed that year 2 would start with an adventure and end with an adventure. Day 1 was a hike to the Canadore Trail system, and the last day was our trip to Wendigo. We shared our ideas at the Canadian Adventure Therapy Symposium this past October.
I have had the pleasure and honour really, to bring students to Wendigo for about 15 years. I have brought numerous high school and university students to Wendigo for outdoor adventures. Steve Glass runs the show and he has been generous and helpful in helping me learn about what his company does so well. The two staff assigned to work with us on this trip were Jason Prichard and Jeremie Carreau. They are rock stars. "They were brilliant. They listened, were empathetic, and integrated the FEAR plan," said Eric.
The day was perfect. The weather was sunny and warm--about 23 degrees. We met in North Bay and travelled down in two vehicles. The ride in was spectacular. Fog rolled in across the road in seveal places. We arrived at 10 am right on time. Jason and Jeremie were ready for us. We started with setting goals for the day and a few ice-breakers for fun. The kids were awesome. We progressed through some trust activites and worked our way across the low-ropes and eventually the high-ropes course. The day ended with a terrific dinner, a cake to celebrate and a cool debrief. Everyone was awesome.
Finally. A super team made up of 1 teacher, 2 therapists, 2 facilitators, fantastic research-based programming, the wilderness, adventure activities, and a group of kids (some earning a high school credit using the provincial eLearning system).
That is school.
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