By John Allan, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Outdoor Education at Leeds Beckett University, was a guest speaker at our recent Adventure Mind conference.
My belief is that well-constructed adventure experiences can create a positive state of mind which is typically hardy and embraces risk-taking. I have little doubt that exposure to outdoor adventure benefits the physical, psychological and social mechanisms that underpin personal and collective well-being. Along a continuum of adventure activities these benefits can be derived as much from unstructured play as polar exploration. To me, adventure offers a philosophical and practical antidote to the increasing prevalence of mental fragility.
Notwithstanding my own commitment, the concept and application of adventure needs to be continuously researched and evidenced. Primarily, this helps to direct both how to deliver adventure that is both life-affirming and addresses mental health problems. Importantly, protective practices seem to surround many young people currently experiencing poor mental health. In that understanding we need to continue generating compelling evidence of the positive, strengthening effects of exposure to adventurous programmes.
Adventure is a force for growth and for unlocking human potential; it can catalyse the development of adaptive (resilient) behaviours. In simple terms, resilience reflects the time needed to manage debilitating negative emotions (anger, frustration, sadness) following setbacks, to quickly move on. Resilience also includes being able to solve problems and to ask for help. Adventurous activities help here by creating testing circumstances that allow participants to assess their existing behavioural and cognitive resources and to try new adaptive approaches.
Central to any contemporary understanding of human development is the importance of powerful first-hand experiences. These widen any individual’s cognitive repertoire. Well delivered programmes counter the societal trends for polarized, binary thinking and for reductive standardized educational practices. Importantly, programmes create experiences that test critical thinking, stress management and perspective taking. These are all important facets of the brain region associated with self-regulation and planning for the future; the prefrontal cortex. As over half of all lifetime mental disorders have been diagnosed by mid-teens, it is important for them to practice managing everyday stress. Without this, young people are facing the trajectories of sick and/or disabled middle-aged adults.
Understanding the interactive processes of building the adaptive capacity of people through adventure activities has driven much of my research. This has included interventions with elite mountaineers attempting to climb 8000 metre peaks, evaluating the resilient responses of thousands of university inductees and schoolchildren attending tailor-made outdoor adventure programmes, and profiling the post-traumatic growth of UK asylum seekers and ex-military personnel. Most recently my co-authors and I have attempted to get under the skin of outdoor adventure experiences by identifying the most powerful ingredients of adventure programmes which are most likely to generate immediate and lasting positive adaptation. From a neurological perspective, we have attempted to explain resilience by linking the powerful experiences of adventurous activities to the brain’s innate capability to adapt its structure (growth of new cells) and function (re-wiring of existing cells).
Throughout our research we have shown an apparent fit between the stated goals of adventure and experiences that build human resilience. Nevertheless, although resilience proposes a healthy reaction to stress, resilience is not a magic bullet or a general panacea for all aspects of adaptive functioning which ‘fixes’ people. Being fast to recover from adversity is beneficial to psychological well-being, however, in order to pursue a healthy emotional life, we need to be able to feel and respond to our emotions, which may be difficult to do if we move on too quickly. Due to the complexity and variability of individuals and settings, resilience must be also considered context specific and, as such, may manifest itself differently within and across practices. Despite these observations, resilience comprises recognisable, generic processes and outcomes of positive functioning which can be learned, measured and continuously developed over time.
Notwithstanding the many innovative research findings in outdoor adventure, we continue to investigate a number of unresolved issues. For example, there is an on-going requirement to identify (i) the specific adventurous processes which influence behavioural outcomes, (ii) the mediating effects of gender and evaluations of personal competencies, reflecting (iii) the optimal environmental conditions for building resilience. Understanding the appropriate dose or level of immersion within outdoor adventure experiences is needed to develop efficacious programmes which maximise opportunities to promote healthy adaptive changes whilst avoiding maladaptive responses.
What is known about the power of outdoor adventure and what needs to be explored sets the agenda for continual research into the phenomenon of adventure as a positive state of mind. The challenge of educating the wider public is being compounded by risk aversive practices and oversimplified dialogue concerning complex issues. A preoccupation with risk and vulnerability overlooks society’s responsibility to protect and support young people to fulfil their promise. Therefore, interventions, policies and practices must offer healthy levels of autonomy and self-directed learning to address the problem of adolescent mental health, Over the life course we need to gain an array of skills to reflect upon complex questions about our role in the world and to question the legitimacy of everyday experiences and social institutions – such as education, health, welfare and employment. Outdoor adventure offers authentic, high impact, cost-effective opportunities which actively promotes independent and collective decision-making for positive, life-shaping development.
Dr John Allan - Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Outdoor Education at Leeds Beckett University - was a guest speaker at our recent Adventure Mind conference. Register your interest in our 2021 event here.