The Effects of Wilderness Immersion Experiences on Foster Children from an Urban Setting: A Focus on

1
The Effects of Wilderness Immersion Experiences
on Foster Children from an Urban SettingA
Focus on Integration of Experience

• Author Aimee Reichert, MA wilderness therapy
• Affiliation Assistant Director, Buffalo Cove
  Outdoor Education Center
• Graduate Student, University of Washington

2
The Integration Challenge

• How do humans connect and adapt experiences from
  wilderness to city?

3
The Integration ChallengeCase Study

• From the Bay in Miami to the New River in North
  Carolina-
• How are foster children living in an urban
  setting affected by a 1-2 week intensive
  wilderness experience?
• What happens when they return to the city?

4
Background on the Children

• Ages 11-20
• African-American, Haitian, Cuban, Venezuelan,
  Columbian lt1 white
• Living throughout Miami-Dade county, primarily in
  group homes or private foster homes
• 62 male, 38 female

5
Where are they coming from?
Miami, FL- Listed as the cleanest city in the
U.S. by Forbes Magazine in 2008
But this is Miami, you cant come to Miami and
not show any skin. You gotta show something. If
you're all covered up in this heat, you're gonna
make me pass out just to look at you. It's sweaty
in Miami-but the diamonds will keep me
cool. -Lil Kim
Party in the city where the heat is on, All
night, on the beach till the break of
dawn Welcome to Miami. Buenvenidos a Miami
-Will Smith
6
The System

• A sense of family and unity was built in my
  head, and that unity was obstructed through
  forceful means, and then claimed to be
  "dysfunctional" and "inappropriate" by law, so
  then what is appropriate? When you have nothing
  you have nothing to lose. If you are forced to
  think there is something wrong with you, because
  everyone around you tells you that there is (the
  state law and its enforcers declare it) then how
  do you ever perform what is right, or know what
  is right?
• -BCOEC camper

7
The North Carolina Wilderness Experience
group challenge
new experiences
Big visible changes in nature occur after long
periods of time. Meanwhile there are smaller
things within nature working all the time that
will eventually lead to those bigger
ones. -BCOEC camper
8
Research

• Positive effects of youth wilderness programs
• 1. Independence
• 2. Confidence
• 3. Self-efficacy
• 4. Self-understanding
• 5. Assertiveness
• 6. Internal locus of control
• 7. Decision-making
• (Hattie, Marsh, Neill Richards, 1997).

9
The Children who Successfully Integrate and
Adapt After CampCamper Comments

• Regardless of environment everything is
  connected.
• Its like your eyes have just been cleaned out.
  
• A week and a half wasn't enough to completely
  change my negative habits or the way i dealt with
  things, it certainly helped me see that there
  were different ways in which i could be treated,
  (that i could be respected more than i allowed
  myself to be) and could respond to things in a
  more positive  fashion than negative.
•  I am much more aware of how my surroundings
  affect me and now i know that i am in control of
  my everyday mood and how i choose to spend my
  days whether inside of the house or out, i feel
  comfortable being constricted to the small
  perimeters of my room and the loud outside noise
  and i deal with it through welcoming it or i go
  outside and enjoy vast open space.

10
Getting Oriented

• Activity
• Which way are you facing right now?
• Purpose
• To establish a sense of place through geographic
  orientation.
• Increased awareness of how we are connected as a
  global community.

11
Conclusion and Continued Focus

• Overarching Questions
• What is wilderness and how is it connected to our
  daily lives?
• What do we gain from time spent in nature?
• Possible Research
• 1.Qualitative interviews with children ages 6-10
  focusing on their concepts of the natural world.
• 2. Assessments that help determine the
  long-lasting effects of wilderness therapy
  programs.

12
References

• Harper, S. (1995). The way of the wilderness.
  In T. Rosak, M.E. Gomes and A.D. Kanner (Eds),
  Ecopsychology, (pp. 183-199). San Francisco
  Sierra Club Books.
• Hattie, J., Marsh, H.W., Neill, J.T., Richards,
  G.E. (1997). Adventure education and Outward
  Bound out-of-class experiences that makes a
  lasting difference. Review of Educational
  Research, 67, 43-87.
• Hay, D. Nye R. (2006). The Spirit of the Child.
  Philadelphia Jessica Kingsley Publishers.