What is wild therapy?

There is magic in the forest and on surging rivers, on lofty mountain trails and by the sea’s edge. It’s what calls us outside when our worries outweigh the wonder in our lives — to walk, run, paddle, climb and breathe again in some place more beautiful.

Once outside, we shake off our troubles in the quiet spaces where mountains soar and rivers flow, staring out over the ocean and breathing in that big, deep blue. In return, we are soothed in ways we might not fully comprehend. But when we turn around and head for home, we feel a little lighter, a little brighter, and carry a sense of something we might call happiness.

We carry a feeling of being deeply connected to something bigger and more remarkable than the spaces and places we live our lives. This sense of connection that nature instils in us — this ancient bond to the natural world — can be a powerful remedy in all our lives, even when we don’t understand just how the magic works.

The call of nature is nothing new. Humans have a long history of wandering off into the woods seeking solace. So many favourite childhood stories begin with an epic escape from home and page after page of perilous adventures in the wild. Facing challenges and solving problems, struggling, failing and finding new strengths — these adventures in nature invariably turn our beloved heroes and heroines into survivors, returning them home again utterly changed and renewed.

When “getting away from it all” seems the only way out in our troubled times, running away to the wilderness is not a bad idea. Sizing ourselves against all that nature can throw back at us can be precisely the salve we need.

How does the magic happen?

How does nature heal? Why does time in the wilderness make us feel so good? Unravelling this magic is something even scientific researchers have only recently explored. Though, anecdotally, most would agree that, mosquitoes and leeches aside, being in nature makes us feel good. Stress ebbs away, anxiety drifts to the periphery, we breathe, smile, stretch our bodies, and somewhere down the track, we begin to feel better. But exactly how does all this happen?

As I write these words, I’m staring out over the sea. It’s a translucent shade of baby blue, opalescent on the fringes where crystalline sand gives way to a blooming coral reef. Psychologists might call my morning vista a colour therapy session made real thanks to my blue-on-blue scenery where the sky meets the sea. It’s calming to look at, but it offers so much more. My brain wave frequency begins to change, and before I know it, my mood is slipping serenely towards something far more tranquil.

Everywhere I look, the power of nature is hard at work. The paperbark forest behind the dunes is pumping out freshly filtered, oxygen-rich air and phytoncides proven to bolster immunity simply by taking a deep breath. The sun overhead is shining on me (for a healthy, natural dose of vitamin D), and waves crashing onshore collide with air molecules, producing negative air ions and stimulating my body to serve up some feel-good serotonin.

There’s a magnificent mountain trail and reefs to snorkel on, enticing me to exercise and explore. As I do, I release endorphins known to kick anxiety to the kerb. Nature provides all of this and so much more. All I have to do is step outside.

Who benefits?

Given that any time spent in nature has the potential to heal, everyone can benefit from a wilderness escape. Wilderness sanctuaries, whether national parks, reserves or any unpopulated open space by the ocean or on a mountain’s flanks, promise the silence required for gentle contemplation to restore balance in our minds and lives and guide us out of our troubles.

Physical exercise, fresh air and a stint of simple living, coupled with that essential separation from day-to-day stress, enable us to look deeper into what’s going on with ourselves. Throw in the distractions of wildlife encounters and wet feet, a perfect sunrise or the joy of appreciating a nourishing campfire meal, we begin to regain a sense of self and some of the confidence that wanes when life becomes a struggle.

This is the kind of solace that nature universally provides, enabling us to do the work to work things out. Some of us might be able to do just this, taking ourselves off to ride a gentle wave, stroll a lonely beach or tackle a big, multi-day hike with pals to get our balance back on track.

But what if that’s not you? What if the challenges in your life are too tough to wrangle and if the wilderness is not a familiar friend? That’s when wilderness therapists can guide you through, swapping the clinician’s couch for open space and the option to walk and talk through issues as you explore the natural world.

What is wilderness therapy?

Wilderness or bush adventure therapy has an 80-year-long heritage of partnering up with Mother Nature to heal and transform lives. It takes place outside, generally in a group and on nature-based adventures that most people can learn to enjoy.

You might be hiking a trail, learning to sail, riding a horse or kayaking a river while sharing with others the collective tasks that camping and simple outdoor living require. This kind of therapeutic experience seeks to cultivate a relationship with nature and nurture in participants the self-reliance and resilience that time in the wilderness invariably fosters.

With firewood to gather, meals to cook, tents to pitch and people to get along with, it’s easy to see how the positive stress induced by lots of physical and mental challenges might give rise to unique healing opportunities. As participants share their thoughts and their tents, expose themselves in group therapy sessions around a campfire or reflect inward during mediation and yoga practice, trained clinical therapists are on hand to help.

Trust deepens quickly on these adventures, and all the issues and emotions that invariably bubble to the surface can be witnessed and worked through. This happens in real time, not a week or month later in an hour-long therapy session when emotions are in check and neatly filed away.

Therapists who’ve switched from the clinician’s couch to the wilderness say it’s like turbocharging the therapeutic experience. All the intense, shared, challenging activities and the moments in between join forces to fast-track healing and growth, ramping up progress that might take six to 12 months to achieve in a therapist’s office.

This is the real power of adventure-based therapy and it’s gathering advocates Australia-wide.

The end of the line

On New South Wales’ North Coast, Human Nature Adventure Therapy is a not-for-profit hub whose intensive, bush-based programs reach out to at-risk males and females aged 14 to 24. This is the age bracket psychologists call “the missing middle”; teens and young adults lost en route between childhood and adulthood who fall through the cracks and flounder on the fringe.

Their struggles can be the stuff of nightmares — childhood trauma, mental health issues, addictions and behavioural challenges — and therapeutic lead Andy Hamilton meets them at the end of the line. Having exhausted conventional, one-on-one therapy options (and lots of them), these young Australians might be one step away from self-harm, suicide or incarceration. They come to adventure therapy as a last resort.

Perhaps it should be the first option, but Australia has been slow to embrace the worldwide phenomenon that bush adventure (or wilderness) therapy has become. After 20 years of working wild, Hamilton believes this kind of counselling work is a no-brainer: it’s fun and empowering and provides so much opportunity for personal growth. But it is not entirely clear how much of its success depends on nature.

Advocating wild

Sally McAdam is a gutsy sailor, an outdoor educator and a graduate of the esteemed National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). An immensely positive life force with an unflappable sense of calm, she works alongside adventure therapists as a mentor and guide, sharing her love of the wilderness and helping youngsters foster deep, trusting relationships with nature and themselves.

I’ve witnessed McAdam’s harmony with the sea while sailing in tandem through a rugged Gulf of Carpentaria maelstrom: McAdam, steadfast on the helm of her boat Clearwater, pitching and rolling over towering waves, and me, strapped into my sailboat with the sea exploding all around. One of
us was more fearful than the other — and
I don’t mind admitting that person was me.

“The outdoors has always been my place of refuge,” McAdam says. “[It is] where I’ve felt the most connected and the most looked after in my time of need.” Sharing that passion and showing people how to thrive in the wilderness is what McAdam does best, all the while remaining conscious of the sometimes devastating issues the people in her care have to overcome.

She teaches newcomers to navigate and steer a boat, read the wind and tie knots.

“Which is awesome,” she says. “It gives them something to do with their hands while they’re talking about some really big things.” But more than skills, what McAdam works to instil in others is a passion for all places wild and the confidence and resilience to explore a relationship with nature.
“Nature is accessible to everyone.

I often say that nature will teach you what you need to learn, not what you want to learn. Put everyone out in the bush, and suddenly they’re all in the same boat.”

Learning by doing

As the head of The Sea School in Queensland’s southeast, Jono Goss is an advocate of learning by doing. He’s a social justice mentor and outdoor educator who once ran a school for expelled kids. He calls the sea “a beautiful, accessible wilderness”, and after decades of sailing, he’s convinced that risk-taking in nature is the best path towards resilience, self-confidence and recovery.

“I was brought up to be wild and free, able to do a lot of things that would not be permissible in today’s society,” he says. “Less and less are we able to get away from the human world and into a place where we’re supported by nature, rather than separate from it. That wilderness, your life does depend on it.”

As a sailor myself, I’m deeply aware that the sea can be a very patient, forgiving coach. There might be discomfort and fear on the sea and the niggling dread that you are not completely in control. But nature is never constant. Its transient, ever-changing state reminds us that even our worst moments will eventually pass and that we can change too.

Our modern world cultivates so much structure and an acute sense of urgency. Very few people can sit in the present and turn off their mental playlist of things to do and things done wrong. Nature turns things around. It demands your attention and tunes you into the here and now. It’s a powerful thing to sit with yourself and be in a place that reconnects you to all the good, wholesome, beautiful things that make this journey through life so worthwhile.

Photography by David Bristow and Human Nature Adventure Therapy.

If this article raises issues for you or if you or a loved one needs support, please contact a registered psychologist or see your GP.
• Beyond Blue — 1300 224 636; beyondblue.org.au
• Lifeline — 13 11 14; lifeline.org.au