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ABSTRACT
Youth involved in the child welfare system need creative ways to meet their needs. One type of active group intervention, adventure therapy, is currently gaining momentum as an additional support for youth with trauma histories. The Ohio Adventure Therapy Coalition (OATC) developed an implementation model to support youth workers in facilitating adventure therapy groups across the state with a focus on trauma-informed care and involving providers in a parallel process, so they can personally understand the process of adventure therapy. A pilot study collected data from youth, parents and providers looking at overall mental health functioning and trauma symptoms. Overall, youth reported significant improvements in overall mental health functioning, while parents reported significant overall improvements as well as improvements on five subscales as measured by the Youth Outcomes Questionnaire. Providers reported significant decreases in youth trauma symptoms, behavioral and emotional needs and risk behaviors as captured by the CANS.
Disclosure statement
In order to comply with ethical guidelines, the following disclosures are shared. Dr. Bobbi Beale was the Project Director of the Ohio Adventure Therapy Coalition Project who was responsible for the training, supervision and support of providers who conducted adventure therapy groups; however, she was not involved in data collection or data analysis of the findings. Dr. Anita Tucker was the project evaluator who created and conducted the research project; however, was not involved in the day-to-day implementation of the OATC project. These clear roles were developed to minimize bias in the study; however, both were paid as part of this implementation grant project.