Getting back to nature and self-discovery are the two most important aspects of adventure therapy. When an individual has a problem like drug addiction, abuse, insecurity or an eating disorder, the most important step in overcoming that affliction is the acceptance that you cannot control it. With that sense of loss of control, it is important to replace the void with something you can control. Rock-climbing, horse-back riding and white-water rafting are all great examples of successful methods of adventure therapy.
While adventure therapy does not involve the use of medicine or detoxification, it can sometime be used simultaneously with those methods. The more important goal of adventure therapy is to get the individual to admit their problem and work it out metaphorically. Whether this means they overcome their addiction by climbing a G3 mountain, or navigate their depression by paddling a boat down some class 4 rapids, the individual is empowered to do much more through the use of adventure therapy.
Adventure Therapy Sticks With It
The working wonder of adventure therapy is that it provides hope and accomplishment to the individual. Having to admit that you are powerless over a problem that runs your life is a hard pill to swallow. That realization comes with a humility that can often times feel like a void inside. With adventure therapy, the individual can refill that sense of longing with a sense of positive accomplishment.
Often times, individuals are asked to do something theyve never done before. Whether that be cliff-diving into a serene lake or handling a ropes course 300 feet above ground, it is the combination of simultaneously letting go and finding your inner strength that makes adventure therapy work. When you dive off that cliff or shoot down those rapids or look down between those ropes, you feel pretty powerless. But when you get to the bottom of the mountain, the end of the river, the other side of that maze, you feel a sense of accomplishment that will stay with you forever.
