AR IMMERSIONS

Big adventure, real impact.

Time in nature, one-on-one, for multiple days and nights, allows us to deeply connect with ourselves and with others. It is profound. There’s a reason mental health and substance use treatment starts by taking people out of the same circumstances that got them into the position they’re in. We need to get away sometimes—from triggers, from dysfunction, from maladaptive habits. Immersions offer potent space for the mind and body to tune in and recalibrate.

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Adventure Recovery Immersion Experiences

The AR approach to immersions empowers the client to steer the process, thinking about what they need and what they seek. Rather than treat the process as an intervention, the idea is to ensure the client has the opportunity to feel a sense of personal agency and step outside the day-to-day, gain perspective, and contemplate their goals, challenges, and dreams.

Adventure immersions allow us to unplug, re-set, slow down, and adopt a natural pace in harmony with the environment. Immersive experiences help us reflect on what is and isn't working in our lives and the shifts we may need to make. Immersions also allow the crew of AR guides to hold space for themselves and the client, and to demonstrate and model connection and application of the skills we teach. Ultimately, during an immersion, the powerful lessons of the natural world create a perfect backdrop for inspiration and transformation.

As each moment passes, we notice our progress. We can see the path behind us and the challenges we’ve overcome. We adjust our goals to better align with our surroundings and the influences of weather, terrain, and our shared awareness. With each new opportunity, we begin to trust ourselves more and learn to trust one another. In the field, we look out for each other—a level playing field—we share the burdens and the joys. This is where true growth happens, confronting ourselves with a beginner’s mind and letting nature guide us.

The Impact of Immersions

Adventure immersions offer multiple opportunities to shape each day and to be influenced by the experiences we choose. We begin by discussing which outdoor skills a client wishes to learn, then create a plan around those goals. Once in the field, we have many options for where, when, how long, how far, and how hard we go. We can travel in an expeditionary way, such as backpacking, river running, biking, paddling, carrying all that we need with us to explore and to thrive in the environment we have chosen.

Immersions guide us to embrace the ever-changing elements, adjusting our plans and our goals. Adaptability, agility, and flexibility come into play. These trips help us to manage and often eliminate the unnecessary burdens of thoughts and feelings about the world “back home”. We focus on our basic needs—stay dry, stay warm, stay hydrated, stay fed—and our minds are clear, and our senses are sharpened. We are in the moment, each step, each movement, each breath helping us to be more comfortable in our own skin.

As each moment passes, we can look back at our progress. We can see clearly the path behind us and the challenges we have overcome. We can adjust our goals to better align with our surroundings and the influences of weather, terrain, and our shared experiences. We grow to trust one another very quickly. We look out for each other and share the burden and the joy. We grow. We change.

Camping Adventures

We utilize a fireside model. Staying at a campsite and/or practicing van life gives us time and energy to focus on landing in the present. Accessing self-regulation. And, once we’re fully present, we can develop technical capacity in areas such as ancestral skills, climbing, paddling, surfing, biking, skiing, snowboarding, SUP, hiking, camping, and bushcraft. A home base often makes things a little more comfortable, especially for beginners, and provides opportunities to potentially access awareness and growth. Clients will often take time to journal, craft, practice skills one-on-one with a guide, do step-work, and/or map out goals and visions for their future. In addition, this time allows us to easily integrate clinical support, coaches, family members, and other members of the client’s treatment team. These are often tangible works for them to take home and share with their therapists, mentors, and families, and to refer to and reflect on as tangible examples of their willingness and capacity to grow and change.

Immersions are our most impactful experiences. Ultimately, this is an active and intentional way for clients to write their own story. To create an experience for themselves that will have a lasting and profound effect on their sense of self, their place in the world, and their dreams. The bonds they make with the AR crew and their guide(s) can last a lifetime. This is why we go.

Why We Go on Immersions

The psychological and physiological benefits of guided immersive outdoor experiences are scientifically based. The research reveals many ways in which outside adventures can benefit us. Specifically, one study from UBC notes that time in nature can increase feelings of happiness and ameliorate symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, access to natural, green spaces is an important component of our mental health. Even viewing images of natural spaces can affect our state of mind. Furthermore, studies show that nature can positively impact mental health outcomes, including affective and cognitive functioning. Affective benefits include a notable decrease in anxiety, rumination, and negative affect, the preservation of positive affect, and a marked increase in memory. These are the direct results of simply being in natural spaces.

When it comes to Adventure Recovery guidance in the field, we wear many hats. In addition to the technical guiding and the mentorship component, individuals learn real-life skills in real time. These skills are lifelong, muscle-memory-based teachings and empower clients to take their well-being into their hands through lifestyle choices. Also, our team maintains communication with additional case management members for a continuum-of-care plan and clinical oversight to ensure experiences are sustained and expanded upon post-experience.

Client Perspective

When we immerse ourselves outside, we see positive outcomes in various ways. To start, simply having the support of another person, 24 hours a day, means relationships are forged through trust and camaraderie right away. Studies show that guidance received in mentorship relationships yields positive outcomes for both the mentee and the mentor. We see this time and again with immersion clients.

“I needed to get a break, away from everything happening in my life, but my support team didn’t think I needed inpatient, so we researched options. My therapist recommended a wilderness immersion and reached out to AR. The crew was flexible and open to what worked for me. We spent six days outside, camping, hiking, whitewater rafting, climbing, and did a fire ceremony. We got to choose activities that felt natural to me. I’d been depressed and anxious and just felt unsure and raw. By the end of day one, I was feeling almost calm. I woke to the birds and a crackling fire. My nerves can run high, but the AR team made me feel safe and supported, which is really important to me. I stay in touch with my AR guides, and we are planning a spring surf trip. The days away from it all, off social, learning how to be comfortable outside, in my own skin, changed my life. This is why I went.”—Andrea* (name changed to protect privacy), AR client, age 18

Positive Outcomes

There is something very real about the fact that while our current lived experience in society happens in a “natural setting”, the foundation of our species is one of a far greater connection with the earth. The wisdom practices and ancestral tools that AR uses in the field are a testament to the remarkable impact we can have when we untether from technology and enact traditional ways of being. We set camp, harvest wood, build a fire, cook a meal, and move with the rhythms of the day. Our internal compass can reset, unfettered by external influences or intentions. The focus becomes the here and now. Our field of awareness tunes in. We can savor the moment and be here now. Studies show that the capacity for this type of presence and reverence is very beneficial for one’s state of mind. It makes us feel good, period.

Learning to be comfortable in our own skin, without escaping the present with alcohol, drugs, or any other form of maladaptive coping mechanism, is what it’s all about. We don’t always learn this growing up. Many of us had parents or caregivers who never learned how to care for themselves—or worse, were victims of abuse or trauma. This is the shared experience that we are evolving from. There are clear-cut skills for this evolution, and they span from self-awareness, self-care, self-regulation, and self-love, to esteem, confidence, and goal achievement. It’s a journey that we’re all navigating together.