Adventure Therapy Best Practices
AEE's Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group(TAPG) has been engaged in efforts to produce a statement of best practice for adventure therapy (AT) since 2001, with writing beginning in 2007. TAPG has coordinated Adventure Therapy Best Practices conferences that have, and continue, to serve as catalysts for this effort. The intent of this effort is to identify, establish, and promote appropriate AT practices. The following is to be considered a working document in its attempt to provide preferred programming standards for the administration of adventure and wilderness therapy programs. This statement will reside on the TAPG website and be updated as the field grows in knowledge and understanding. Please click the highlighted text above to access the sitemap.
Best practices are the elements and activities of intervention design, planning, and implementation that are recommended based on the best knowledge available. Historic precedent, practitioner experience and judgment, theoretical developments, and empirical and basic research results inform them. This template for best practices will continue to be informed by research with the intent to establish adventure therapy as an empirically validated treatment. It is designed to inform practitioners, administrators, consumers, and policy makers on theory, process, and outcomes guiding AT.
These best practices are currently in draft form, and we are seeking feedback from you about its contents. The website provides definition and structure, with bibliographies indicating where the reader can get more detailed information.
It is proposed that this template for best practices could integrate the various approaches of AT into a common body of knowledge that can then be presented as best practices to the Association of Experiential Education (AEE) and it's associated professional group, the Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group (TAPG), as well as the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Industry Council (OBHIC), the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps (NATWC), the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and others. The information on this website is designed from a U.S. perspective, but may have utility for other countries engaging in AT.
Contents:
Foundations History of Adventure Therapy in the United States Defining Adventure Therapy Foundational Concepts Professional Organizations
Ethics Ethical Considerations Competence and Scope of Practice Client Welfare Confidentiality Informed Consent Boundaries Cultural Considerations Environmental Impact Code of Ethics Links Theory
Experiential Learning Theory/Experiential Education Philosophy Systems Theory Existential Theory Behavioral/Cognitive Behavioral Theory Psychodynamic Theory
Practitioners Practitioner Roles Supervision Training
Treatment Applications Environmental Context of Treatment Interpersonal Context of Treatment Group Adventure Therapy Family Adventure Therapy Individual Adventure Therapy
Assessment in Adventure Therapy Intervention in Adventure Therapy: Treatment Outcomes Intervention in Adventure Therapy: Facilitation Skills Therapeutic Alliance Matching Interventions to Enhance Therapeutic Intent Matching Facilitation Strategy Matching Activity Selection Therapeutic Environment Treatment Skills Processing
Intervention in Adventure Therapy: Activities Cooperative Activities Initiatives Trust Activities High Constructed Elements Service Learning Solo Natural Environment/High Adventure Activities Expeditions
Operational Guidelines for Clinical Practice Client Transitions in AT Clinical Quality Assurances Risk Management in AT
Research
Bibliography
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