TY - JOUR
T1 - Re-storying wilderness and adventure therapies
T2 - healing places and selves in an era of environmental crises
AU - Willis, Alette
N1 - Special Issue: Outdoor and Adventure Therapy
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - 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-humanworld 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 storieswilderness 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.
AB - 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-humanworld 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 storieswilderness 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.
KW - Wilderness
KW - Therapy
KW - Ecological memoirs
KW - narrative therapy
KW - environmental sustainability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84859257026&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14729679.2011.633375
DO - 10.1080/14729679.2011.633375
M3 - Article
SN - 1472-9679
VL - 11
SP - 91
EP - 108
JO - Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
JF - Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
IS - 2
ER -