In­vol­un­t­a­ry trans­port, coer­ci­on and cli­ent au­to­no­my in wil­der­ness the­ra­py: A cri­ti­cal per­spec­ti­ve 

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Authors: Nevin J. Harper

Abstract

The re­cent 9th In­ter­na­tio­nal Ad­ven­ture The­ra­py Con­fe­rence (IATC) in Nor­way (June, 2022) in­cluded a fa­ci­li­ta­ted con­ver­sa­ti­on about in­vol­un­t­a­ry youth trans­port and tre­at­ment in some wil­der­ness the­ra­py (WT) pro­grams. This pa­per is one delegate’s re­flec­tion on the to­pic and cri­ti­cal re­spon­se to the prac­ti­ces dis­cus­sed: youth en­te­ring tre­at­ment against their will. The pa­per tou­ch­es on coer­ci­on, au­to­no­my, and the ethics of the­ra­py. The WT field is again ex­pe­ri­en­cing pu­blic pres­su­re for prac­ti­ces de­e­med in­ap­pro­pria­te re­la­ti­ve to child rights, hu­man di­gni­ty and re­la­tio­nal prac­ti­ces of the­ra­py. The aut­hor pro­vi­des a per­so­nal histo­ry of a si­mi­lar sce­na­rio two de­ca­des ago in which ad­apt­a­ti­on was nee­ded to pro­tect or­ga­niza­ti­ons from clo­sure. The aut­hors in­ten­ti­ons in wri­ting this pa­per are to en­cou­ra­ge the IATC com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to un­der­stand the prac­ti­ces from a cri­ti­cal per­spec­ti­ve to as­sist in coll­ec­tively lo­ca­ting and ar­ti­cu­la­ting their va­lues and po­si­ti­ons on re­la­tio­nal di­gni­ty for out­door the­ra­pies.

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