Adventure Therapy Collective Podcast Daniel L Cavanaugh & Will Dobud

We have started a GoFundMe so you can all chip in and send us to the Himalayas where we can hang out and learn from Tanya. You'll understand why we must go watch Tanya in action after listening to this episode. Tanya Ginwala is a clinical psychologist and experiential educator from India, and the country's representative on the Adventure Therapy International Committee (ATIC). Tanya has trained in narrative therapy, somatic therapies, and buddhist psychology. Before starting her own practice, Qualia Mental Health, Tanya worked for the Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation, an Indian non-profit that aims to use adventure sports to promote social inclusion for people with and without disabilities. There she managed daily operations of an organization with a footprint of over 5,000 individuals with and without disabilities during its founding years, from 2016-2019. 

Tanya is a trailblazer for adventure therapy in India. She established an Adventure and Nature Based Therapy - India Study Group which has grown over the years and has included international presentations, workshops, and training opportunities. In her free time, Tanya enjoys spending time in the pine forests by her home in Dharamshala with her wonderful dog Ziggy, reading, napping in the sun and discovering new music.

Useful Links
Tanya's Website
Adventures Beyond Barriers
LinkedIn Page
India's International Adventure Therapy Representative
Tanya's Psychology India Page

To stir the pot, Will's mother sent him Alan's book, Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science, last year. Alan's book examines the meaning of "natural" and argues that modern Western culture has divinized nature. That seemed like a worthy conversation to unpack. Alan is an associate professor of religion at James Madison University. His work focuses primarily on the relationship between religion, literature, and science, with particular attention to classical Chinese thought and comparative ethics. In this episode, we talk a lot about psychotherapy, religion, cults, pseudoscience, wellbeing, and ritual. 

Useful Links
Alan's JMU Page
Give Alan a follow on Twitter
Alan's Washington Post Page
Interview with Alan about "Nature's Goodness"

We caught up with an icon of our field Denise Mitten as she was driving with her daughter across the US to Will’s homeland of Washington DC! Denise is a widely experienced outdoor adventure guide, leading SCUBA and mountaineering trips in numerous countries. Denise started with the Girl Scouts in the 1960s and brought her passion for sharing the outdoors and adventure with people from all backgrounds, including women survivors of abuse, homeless populations, and maximum-security men’s prisons. Denise’s academic work spans ethics, justice, diversity, and equity in adventure therapy and outdoor education. Her writing speaks for itself and we encourage our listening to take a look at her amazing contributions to the literature.

Useful Links

Denise’s Page at Prescott College

Follow Denise on Twitter

Denise’s Google Scholar Page

Book: The Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning

Join us to talk to electronic social emotional entrepreneurs Kendra Bostick, LCSW, PhD candidate, and Bryn Lottig, M.S. They visited Will and Daniel to teach us why we should all immediately download Kikori, the app they have developed that is a digital encyclopedia of experiential activities. This episode goes far beyond adventure therapy because Kikori is a tool that is useful for social emotional learning, experiential education, outdoor education, and any form of experiential learning. Come learn about Kendra and Bryn and the award-winning app that they have developed that can help expand your bag of facilitation tools and techniques!

Kikori App

Kendra Bostick

Bryn Lottig 

Russell Chamberlain, LCSW, CADCIII brings over 30 years of lived experience to this episode. Russell is a licensed clinical social worker and certified alcohol and drug counselor. He is also a board member of the Parker Bounds Johnson Foundation and a former chair of the Therapeutic Adventure Professionals Group. In this episode, he shares his knowledge and experience in working experientially in the outdoors with a diverse range of populations. Russell's career working therapeutically outdoors began in the early 1980s, despite previous outdoor recreation experiences beginning in the previous decade. He has worked for Outward Bound, NOLS, and many other programs. Russell was born and raised in Kentucky, he is now based out of Portland, Oregon. Russell established LifeSTREAM Therapy LLC to deliver services for youth and families, and provide consultation for many adventure outdoor therapy organizations. His organization's mission focuses on how relationships can be central to adventure and outdoor therapy practice. Russell has been training in trauma informed therapy, attachment, collaborative problem solving, polyvagal theory, and equine assisted psychotherapy. 

Relevant Links

LifeSTREAM Therapy

Reunification Works

Russell on the Stories From The Field Podcast 

Energy Matters

Contact Russell

All good research requires a good acronym. Welcome to the ATOM...the Adventure Therapy Outcome Monitoring study. In this episode, we invite you to join a community of practitioners to build more evidence and knowledge about adventure therapy practice and, hopefully, help each other get better at doing it. If you're interested in getting involved...and yes, you are the perfect person to get involved, flick us an email and we can get started!

Email: wdobud@csu.edu.au

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” –Ken Blanchard

Useful Links
Adventure Therapy and Routine Outcome Minitoring of Treament Article
Feedback Informed Treament: Explained in 5 Minutes
The First ATOM Training Video: Password is ATOM
Towards an evidence-informed adventure therapy: Implementing feedback-informed treatment in the field
Beyond measures and monitoring: Realizing the potential of feedback-informed treatment.
Feedback informed treatment: Evidence‐based practice meets social construction
Feedback-informed treatment (FIT): Improving the outcome of psychotherapy one person at a time