Outdoor Therapies

Nevin J. Harper, PhD, has been involved in adventure education and outdoor therapy practices for more than 25 years. His research and practice focuses on active, embodied, and ecological approaches for therapy, health, and well-being. Will W. Dobud, PhD, MSW, is a social work lecturer at Charles Sturt University and has been involved in outdoor therapy in the United States, Australia, and Norway. His research is focused on participant experiences in care and improving outcomes in the outdoor therapies.

It’s time to open the therapy room door, step outside, and use the great outdoors to help those who seek our counsel. This comprehensive text, written by experts around the world, shows you how. — Scott Miller, PhD, founder of the International Center for Clinical Excellence and coauthor of Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve your Therapeutic EffectivenessIn public health, the importance of human interactions with outdoor and nature-based settings is emerging as critically important to physical and mental well-being. Although focused on therapy, this book’s application and utility for health promotion practitioners and researchers is evident. I will absolutely be recommending this text to my students and colleagues involved in outdoor and nature-based interventions. — Patti-Jean Naylor, PhD, professor in the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education at the University of Victoria, and international expert on children’s physical activity, healthy eating and applying implementation scienceOutdoor therapies are fast evolving. We gradually realize that we do not have to confine ourselves to the therapy room; the outside world offers beautiful therapy opportunities. If you are interested in this growing field, this book will provide you with a great variety of topics and insights to enrich your thoughts and work. — Itai Ivtzan, PhD, associate professor at Naropa University and author of Awareness is Freedom: The Adventure of Psychology and SpiritualityThis book recognizes the relationship between humans and nature as fundamental to human experience, and perhaps most important for the practitioner and policy maker alike, this book brings together the many streams of nature-based interventions and shows how underneath the superficial appearance is a fundamental reality that is vital for the future of the planet. This integrated approach is needed to support the field and inform all stakeholders of the possibilities inherent within outdoor therapies. — Eric Brymer, PhD, associate professor and author of One Health: The Well-being Impacts of Human-Nature Relationships

• Part I: Foundations 1. An Introduction to Outdoor Therapies 2. Experiential Facilitation in the Outdoors 3. Ecopsychological Approaches to Therapy 4. Psychological First Aid for Outdoor Programs 5. Indigenous Land-Based Healing Pedagogies: From the Ground Up Part II: Practices 6. Wilderness Therapy 7. Adventure Therapy 8. Nature-Based Therapy 9. Equine and Animal Assisted Therapies 10. Garden and Horticultural Therapies 11. Nature, Sensory Integration, and Pediatric Occupational Therapy 12. Surf Therapy 13. Forest Therapy Part III: Critical Perspectives and Conclusions 14. Critical Perspectives on Outdoor Therapy Practices 15. Future Directions for Outdoor Therapies