Where wild things grow: Friluftsterapi as a preventative, health promoting, and sustainable method for children with neurodivergence in school, health care, family and leisure settings in Southern Norway
Christiane Thiesen
ATI | Adventure Therapy Institute, Germany
Christiane Thiesen has professional expertise in the field of experiential education and, for several years, also in Adventure and Nature therapy.
Since 1996 she has been involved in the board of directors, the establishment of the nationwide specialist group "Adventure Therapy" etc. in the federal association "Individual- and experiential-based Pedagogy e.V.".
From 2000-2014, she was a trainer at OUTWARD BOUND Germany.
From 2014-2019 she developed and built up the European network "Adventure Therapy Europe (ATE)" as a German representative within the framework of an ERASMUS+ partnership and was the organizer of the 2nd GATE (2019 in Germany).
The digital "Journal Adventure Therapy" was initiated by her and implemented digitally with the ZIEL Verlag Augsburg in 2020.
Together with Alexander Rose and Per Wijnands, she founded the Adventure Therapy Institute (ATI) in 2021. ATI offers training and further education in the field of Adventure and Nature therapy.
Pathfinder: an individual long-term Adventure
and Nature therapy program for young adults
PATHFINDER is an individual long-term Adventure and Nature Therapy (ANT) program for young adults with mental health problems, developed between the Adventure Therapy Institute (Germany) and Terapia Aventura (Spain). This collaboration guarantees a comprehensive psychological intervention, with the highest ethical and quality standards.
The intervention is planned after exhausting assessment, and implemented during the necessary days or weeks. The participant is accompanied at all times by a mental health professional with outdoor sports capacitation and specific ANT training who will guide the experience in nature, and a clinical and logistics team standing nearby. Supervision of the therapeutic program and parallel family interventions will be implemented, guaranteeing an effective monitoring program.
At the time of the abstract presentation, we are carrying out our first program, and during the presentation we will share the learnings, difficulties, and benefits of the program.