Re-storying wilderness and adventure therapies: healing places and selves in an era of environmental crises

Abstract

This paper begins by examining the therapeutic work of wilderness and adventure therapy through the lens of narrative counselling and the concept of the narrative-self. The terms wilderness and adventure are unpacked and attention is drawn to the risks of working uncritically with these concepts. Illustrations of alternative understandings of people in relationship to the more-than-human world are offered. In keeping with the principles of narrative therapy, rather than providing definitive answers, which risk foreclosing on alternative storylines, this paper seeks instead to open up new possibilities for being and acting within the field of wilderness and adventure therapies and within Western societies more broadly. As long as critical attention is paid to the discourses and stories wilderness and adventure therapies draw on and promote, the paper concludes that these fields are well positioned to help individuals and societies move towards greater environmental sustainability.

Keywords:

• Wilderness
• Therapy
• Adventure therapy
• Narrative counselling
• Environmental sustainability
• Ecological memoirs

Acknowledgements

First, I would like to thank Liz Bondi with whom I presented an earlier version of this paper at the 5th International Adventure Therapy Conference (September 7–11, 2009). Without her support, this paper would never have been written. The paper has also benefited enormously from chats I've had on a number of occasions with Chris Loynes and Kate Rawles about outdoor education, environmental sustainability and stories. Finally, I'd like to thank the editors and the three anonymous reviewers for their encouragement and their astute comments.

Notes

1. See for example, the Scottish branch of the World Wildlife Fund's Natural Change programme: www.naturalchange.org.uk/research.

2. Given the interrelationship between the concept of nature and wilderness, it is not surprising that their modern usage shares a common history (Humberstone & Pedersen, 2001).

3. For the purposes of this paper, my engagement with the literature concerning the social construction of ‘nature’ is necessarily limited. However, those with an interest in this area might wish to consult Braun's (2001) book Social Nature or the work of Haraway on nature cultures (Haraway, 2003).

4. See Loynes (2002) for a review of some alternative historical influences upon these fields.

5. For an example of a programme that incorporates an ‘Urban expedition’ component see Norton (2010).

6. Although there are a growing number of alternative representations of adventure being articulated (Loynes, 2002), it has been difficult to bring these into practice because of the continued dominance of those same destructive discourses that reduce everything to instrumental value and commodified relationship (Beames, 2006).

7. I am indebted to one of my anonymous reviewers for pointing this out to me.

8. Mary Gergen, along with Kenneth Gergen, was influential in introducing the concept of the narrative-self to psychology. Their 1988 paper is still widely cited today. Her 1992 solo-authored piece discusses the misgivings she began to have. She finds in Campbell's monomyth the source of the overarching narrative that she and her husband were trying to define and concludes that it is the ‘major manstory’ (p. 130) dominating western culture. Mary Gergen concludes that having only one plot to follow imprisons people and instead advocates for a diversity of plotlines, for playfulness, and for improvization in the storying of lives.

9. For a more detailed discussion of gender and nature in relation to ‘nature-based’ sports, including adventure-type activities, see Humberstone (1998).

10. This is not to say that there is no perceived benefit from adventure activities. In her analysis of interview narratives Norton (2010) found that they did story ‘challenge and adventure’ as important to their experience of the programme she studied. However, in her quantitative research she also found that ‘positive peer group interaction’ was the most statistically significant component in helping the participants therapeutically. From the perspective of this paper it is also interesting to note that ‘connection with nature’ was also highlighted as important in participant interviews.

11. For a thought-provoking discussion of how the broader field of counselling and psychotherapy is implicated in serving the status quo and working against social change, see Masson (1997).

12. In working with children in North America, Caduto and Bruchac's (1989) ‘Keepers’ series of books, which link environmental lessons to traditional native tales, could be quite useful.