School of Therapeutic Practice

Risks and Adventure Therapy Leading - Extra Caution

A sad reminder from the UK, that the risks that we enjoy and offer for people as growth experiences must be managed with great care

The Australian Adventurous Activity standards (https://australianaas.org.au/) are designed to guide adventure leaders when providing safe and enjoyable experiences. Following the AAAS and their accompanying Good Practice Guides should help us avoid these avoidable tragedies

When working therapeutically, we should remember that the people we seek to help can misjudge safe as unsafe, and unsafe as safe, and can be unable to recall and action safety briefings as adventurous stressors are approached.

We adventure therapy leaders must take extra care, with the AAAS as a minimum standard (always), knowing that a person we help can operate both much better and much worse than the average person, within one adventure.

Further, we must remember that demonstrating a skill does not mean that they will always be able to perform that skill on another occasion, and sometimes within the same occasion.

This can be due to changes in stress features and levels, causing the person to dissociate and temporarily lose the recently acquired skill. This can happen to ANY person, and is more likely for people dealing with complex trauma for any reason.

An abundance of care and caution is required throughout all adventure therapy sessions

Message us, or contact us here (https://www.schoolotp.com.au/contact-us), if you wish to discuss safe adventure therapy

https://adventurerms.org.uk/?mailpoet_router&endpoint=view_in_browser&action=view&data=Wzk3LCJlMDZhMmIyNTlmMDciLDE5LCJuM3d2OW92NW02c3NnOHMwa29zMDQ4Y29vdzBrMGM4ZyIsODcsMF0&fbclid=IwY2xjawJ2MsJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFPeHRPMG1tempaamUxMEthAR5cvGr1YHzsx9TP8XajQB-q9K8WAQ1yLN9I5TIE-ZxmiKpqqO9jg55NE2Nlbg_aem_n5qZhmFxNzPaHI9YWm-nNg

Safety Management Update

SOTP conducts trauma-informed training. This share explains the difference between trauma-informed and trauma focused

#traumainformed #traumafocused #care #dissociation #complextrauma | Dr Graham Pringle Trauma-informed is not trauma focused, and not many are both Trauma focused practitioners help with memories and the somatic re-living of memories that may not actually be remembered. This is slow, hard, miserable work; returning to past horrors and removing their power over a person's current l...

This is an important document for the emergence of outdoor therapies as part of the mainstream mental health landscape in Qld

https://www.youthflourish.org/_files/ugd/8d759f_2a39062717ee4b919b6862ae1fecfd0d.pdf

Outdoor Therapies Summit | YFO

Our partners at Adventure Therapy Institute are advertising our intensive web workshops for Feb 25.

Timed for an early start in Europe each day, and early evening in Au.

🌿 Discover the healing power of nature! 🌳

Trauma can leave deep scars, but together we can find ways to heal. Our online webinar 'Trauma-informed Practice in Adventure Therapy' with Dr. Graham Pringle from Australia opens up new perspectives.

Learn how nature and experience-based therapies can help to cope with complex trauma. We are committed to innovative approaches.
📅 February 15-16, 2025
🌐 Online
👨‍🎓 Dr. Graham Pringle 🇳🇿

Interested? Register now and be part of the Adventure Therapy Family! Together we support people with trauma and PTSD.

https://myablefy.com/s/adventuretherapyinstitute/ctiatp-web-workshops-eb6d7b73

'What is wrong with you?', and 'what happened to you?' are contrasted approaches, and not meant as literal questions we should ask people in distress.

A person's story is theirs, none of our business, and may not provide either dignity in the re-telling or clear solutions.

'What matters to you?' is enabling, forward facing, solution(s) focused, and compassionate.

It is something we can all ask, whether clinically trained or not.

The proposal by Hel Spandler PhD is thoughtfully introduced and worth reading.



https://www.madinamerica.com/2024/10/what-matters-to-you/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3LEH9f4cLg4kvTz2TcZX8Pzf0T2Ohm8z90cflEeRJSdpxoGXHk8XrEy_I_aem_HZdPaizxF179BJy8OAmlRg

"What Matters to You?" – An Antidote to "What's Wrong" and "What Happened" Both ‘what’s wrong with you?’ and ‘what’s happened to you’ risk sidelining people’s own understandings and solutions.

Trauma-aware education conference with Jim Gallows

We got the last time slot at 5pm on a Friday afternoon, but still had 80 people for our discussion about dissociation in the classroom.

The International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation fact sheets will be getting some downloads today.

TGIF!

This World Mental Health day morning I am on a train to the CBD for a mental health awards breakfast.

Youth Flourish Outdoors Ltd is a finalist!

What a strange week.

NDIS has cancelled all adventure therapy related mental health work, and our adventure therapy charity is recognised for excellence in mental health work.

The Queensland Mental Health Commission has chosen themes for this week. Connect with self, community, others and nature. Yet the Qld mental health plan does not mention nature, unless followed by 'disaster'.

Optimistic Emu assumes this chaos to be a sign of an impending major change in our understanding of mental health work.

Is anyone else seeing a major change coming?

📚 Complex Trauma-Informed Practice Framework Training

📍 Gold Coast: 29th & 30th October
📍 Darwin: 20th & 21st November

💡 What sets this training apart?

* A broader, more inclusive concept of attachment
* The critical role of dissociation
* Strengthening the sense of self

🌐 Learn more and register here: https://www.schoolotp.com.au/upcoming-events

Events | The School of Outdoor Therapeutic Practice | Brisbane Explore upcoming events at the School of Outdoor Therapeutic Practice. Enhance your skills with our unique Complex Trauma Informed Practice framework, based on 7 years of research. Perfect for professionals in Community Services, Education, or Mental Health

Complex Trauma Training: Bridging Critical Gaps

Australia's complex trauma training relies on models imported from the USA, based on old theories. These models have major gaps, partly caused by a separation between two main approaches.

🔵 Perspective 1: Trauma is seen as life-threatening events leading to PTSD diagnoses, but this overlooks the complex nature of developmental disruption.

🔵 Perspective 2: Trauma can stem from chronic adversity, constant threat, or neglect, where the issue isn’t life-threatening events but a sense of helplessness.

With guidance from global experts, we identified key gaps in standard trainings:

⚡ Dissociation: How children disconnect from overwhelming situations.

⚡ Attachment: How disrupted bonds harm a child’s sense of belonging.

⚡ Sense of Self: How constant threat affects identity development.

Our training focuses on healing beyond clinical diagnoses, helping children rebuild attachments, rediscover their sense of self, and experience care and belonging. Grounded in the latest research, we offer a human rights-based and systemic approach to complex trauma.

Interested? Visit our websites:
🌐 www.schoolotp.com.au
🌐 www.emufile.com.au

The School of Outdoor Therapeutic Practice | Complex Trauma Elevate your skills in outdoor therapy with our complex trauma-informed practice training. Make a lasting impact on young people's lives. Discover more now at The School of Outdoor Therapeutic Practice.

Increasingly we are imprisoning 10 year olds for 'adult time'. Yet in some US states and now Scotland, they have ZERO children in prisons

None

There are real and clearly effective options

Queensland Mental Health Commission Australian Human Rights Commission Queensland Youth Governor of Queensland

All children removed from young offenders institutions in Scotland The move was welcomed by those who knew 16-year-old William Brown, who took his own life at Polmont.