1st Edition
Solution-Focused Practice in Outdoor Therapy Co-Adventuring for Change
Solution-Focused Practice in Outdoor Therapy presents a comprehensive model for working therapeutically with clients outdoors, with adventure, and in any outdoor setting – from a typical one-hour session to multi-day expeditions.
Chapters lay out a robust and pragmatic model for opening the counseling room door using solution-focused methods. Dobud and Natynczuk bring together research on best practice in psychotherapy, monitoring therapeutic outcomes, safe and inclusive leadership, supervision, and self-care to present a robust framework for working therapeutically outdoors. Case vignettes are presented throughout the book, and a field manual is available for free download with purchase of the book.
Part I: Co-Adventuring for Change, 1. Co-Adventuring for Change, 2. On Becoming an Evidence-Informed Practitioner, 3. Tools for the Solution-Focused Practitioner, Part II: Outdoor Solution-Focused Practice, 4. Being Solution-Focused Outdoors, 5. Working with Individual Clients, 6. Expedition Settings and Group Work, 7. Working with Parents and Referrers, Part III: From Good Enough to Excellence, 8. Core Competencies and Professionalism, 9. Implementing Feedback-Informed Treatment Outdoors, 10. Re-Igniting Supervision in Outdoor Therapy, 11. Concluding Thoughts
Biography
Will W. Dobud, PhD, MSW, is a social work lecturer with Charles Sturt University and has been involved in outdoor therapy in the United States, Australia, and Norway. His internationally recognized research focuses on participant experiences in care and improving outcomes in the outdoor therapies.
Stephan Natynczuk, DPhil, MBA, LPIOL, FRSA, MNCS(accred), has been professionally involved in experiential education since 1988. Stephan enjoys training aspirant outdoor practitioners internationally and runs a private outdoor therapy practice. His research focuses on effective practice and professionalism in outdoor therapy.
"This book expertly combines the authors’ practical experience in outdoor work with solution-focused perspectives and academic connections. Whether you want to embrace working in the fresh air, add solution-focused ideas into your work, or simply get more from your adventures with clients, it’s a must read and a book to go back to again and again."
Dr. Mark McKergow, author of The Next Generation of Solution-Focused Practice
"An eminently practical book of strategies for creating better lives outside of the consulting room."
Scott D. Miller, PhD, founder of the International Center for Clinical Excellence and coauthor of Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Your Therapeutic Effectiveness
"The field needs the voices of Will and Stephan, who pull together the past and present uses of solution-focused therapy to engage the current and future generations of practitioners. This book can help practitioners resist the pull of ‘curing the disease’ and embrace an understanding of how clients possess solutions they have yet to discover."
From the foreword by H. Lee Gillis, APA’s 2020 Arthur Teicher Group Psychologist of the Year
"In this pioneering book, Will Dobud and Stephan Natynczuk invite us into their adventure of taking solution-focused practice outdoors and show convincingly that it belongs there. If you ever work in an outdoor setting, or are contemplating doing so, I recommend putting this in your backpack and joining them."
Guy Shennan, therapist, consultant, trainer, and author of Solution-Focused Practice: Effective Communication to Facilitate Change
"Looking for a textbook that will enhance your therapeutic work outdoors? Here it is! The authors’ skillful provision of a solution-focused and hands-on model for outdoor and adventure therapy is not only written in an accessible and down-to-earth manner, it is also conveyed in a heartfelt and inspirational way. I am deeply moved by their beautiful references to clients throughout the book as everything from superheroes to sunsets, whilst reiterating their rightful position as co-adventurers for change."
Carina Ribe Fernee, PhD, co-chair of the Adventure Therapy International Committee and clinician and researcher in the Department of Child and Adolescent Mental health at Sørlandet Hospital in Norway
"Science has proved that a patient can heal faster and require fewer pain killers if they can are able to see a tree outside their window. How much more can the mind and body heal, destress, and strengthen in close connection with the natural world? Will Dobud and Stephan Natynczuk have given us the gift of a road map, a work of research destined to become the bible of and a practical guide to effecting outdoor therapy of all kinds."
Les Stroud, creator of the survival TV genre (with Survivorman) and author of Survive: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You out of Anywhere Alive
