Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors
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Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors
Stories from the Field: Mental Health in the Outdoors is an authoritative and enlightening podcast that explores the vast landscape of mental health therapies in outdoor settings. Hosted by seasoned mental health professional Dr. Will White, the podcast offers deep insights into outdoor therapies li...
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316 эпизод
316: Autism Outdoors: How Nature Helps Autistic Children and Families Thrive
What happens when a therapist who has spent years working with autistic individuals suddenly becomes the parent of an autistic child? In this episode...
315: 10 Years of Change: How Confluence Behavioral Health Evolved
How does a program built around relationships, adventure, and the outdoors evolve over ten years while staying true to its mission? In this episode, W...
314: Nature Deficit or Mental Health Crisis? Scott Shepherd on Reconnecting Young People with the Outdoors
What happens when a generation grows up more connected to screens than to the natural world? In this episode, Will sits down with outdoor educator and...
313: Can Wilderness Therapy Be Proven Scientifically? Rob Meltzer on Research, Critics, and the Future of the Field
What if wilderness therapy has been helping people heal for a long time—but the field never fully understood why it works? In this episode Will sits d...
312: Healing Trauma in Adolescent Girls: How ROOTs Transition Blends Nature, Family, and Residential Care
What happens when a clinician decides that traditional residential treatment isn't enough for adolescent girls struggling with trauma? In this episode...
311: 30 Years Later: How Summit Achievement Was Built to Last
Thirty years later… What happens when one of the earliest outdoor behavioral healthcare programs refuses to follow the trends of the field?
In t...
310: How Venture Capital Grew Wilderness Therapy… and Then Ran Away
What happens when a field built on healing becomes shaped by money? In this episode, Will revisits a 2020 exploration of the business of wilderness th...
309: The First Therapist in Wilderness Therapy: Dr. Madolyn Liebing and the Clinical Origins of the Field
How did wilderness therapy become outdoor behavioral healthcare—and who made that shift possible? In this re-released and historically significant epi...
308: The Evolution of Wilderness Therapy: L. Jay Mitchell, SUWS, and the Early Days of Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Treatment
Who really built wilderness therapy—and how did a lawyer with no formal clinical training help shape one of the most influential models in outdoor men...
307: From Prison Inmate to Wilderness Therapy Pioneer: The Story of Larry Wells
Wilderness therapy didn't start with therapists—it evolved with the help of an ex-con who found his heart of service to others in recovery.
In t...
306: A Mighty Change in Wilderness Therapy: Larry Dean Olsen, Anasazi, and the 1990s Crisis (Part 2)
How did wilderness therapy survive the crises of the early 1990s — and why did some of its earliest leaders continue to believe in the work even as th...
305: A Mighty Change in Wilderness Therapy: How Larry Dean Olsen Impacted the Field (Part 1)
How and why did wilderness therapy ignite in the American West? In this episode of Stories from the Field Will explores the life and influence of Larr...
304: Outward Bound: The Wartime Origins of Wilderness Therapy
Outward Bound is not about therapy. It began during World War II as a response to a fear that young sailors were not resilient enough to survive the s...
303: The Rise and Fall of Therapeutic Camps: History, Hope and Hard Lessons.
What happened to the hundreds of therapeutic camps that once shaped mental health treatment for young people in the outdoors? Long before the term "wi...
302: Beyond Hell Camp: A New Documentary on Wilderness Therapy
In a moment when wilderness therapy is often framed as either a miracle or a menace, what gets lost when we stop listening for the full human story? I...
301. Surviving Climate Anxiety: How to Cope, Heal, and Stay Grounded in a Changing World
How do you live well, stay engaged, and protect your mental health when the future of the planet feels so uncertain? Listen to this episode of Stories...
300: Wilderness Therapy Is Growing?! What 300 Episodes Reveal
Wilderness therapy isn't dying. It's growing.
In this milestone 300th episode of Stories from the Field, host Dr. Will White sits down with gues...
299: The Most Controversial Wilderness Program? Part 2: Scouting, Faith, and the Roots of the Field
What do Outward Bound and many wilderness therapy programs have in common? Their shared roots trace back to a movement that believed the outdoors wasn...
298: Accidental Roots of Wilderness Therapy: A 1901 Insane Asylum Experiment
How did an early twentieth-century psychiatric institution help shape what would later become wilderness therapy?
In this episode, our host Dr....
297: Where Did Wilderness Therapy Begin?
Where did wilderness therapy actually begin—and why is it so hard to define?
In the opening episode of Season 26 of Stories from the Field, host...
296: Is Wilderness Therapy Like Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy? A Conversation with Dr. Sandy Newes
Does wilderness therapy create an altered state similar to psychedelic-assisted therapy? And what can both approaches teach us about trauma, embodimen...
295: Wilderness Isn't the Problem
What do decades of practice in wilderness therapy reveal about ethics, transport, and change? In this episode, Will talks with Paula Leslie—former Asp...
294: The Most Controversial Wilderness Therapy Program? (Part 1)
What is the most controversial program in the history of wilderness therapy? Some might say it's the very program podcast host Will White was compelle...
293: The Parallel Process Updated: What Parents Need to Know
How can parents grow alongside a struggling teen or young adult without getting pulled into their anxiety, shutdown, or refusal? In this episode, Will...
292: The Anti-Program Approach: Belay Life's Immersive Adventure Model
What happens when a wilderness guide, therapist, and seasoned mentor decides that traditional treatment programs no longer fit the needs of young adul...
291: Rethinking Therapeutic Consulting: A Conversation with Amanda Thomas
What if "consulting" in mental health meant more than just placement? In this episode Will speaks with Amanda Thomas, founder of Cobalt Family Consult...
290: The Truths about Wilderness Therapy: What Outcome Research Shows
What do wilderness therapy outcomes really tell us? In this episode, Will talks with researchers Dr. Joanna Bettmann Schaefer and Dr. Laura Mills, two...
289: Prescribing Nature: How to Be an Eco-Therapist
Dr. Patricia Hasbach of Northwest Ecotherapy joins Will to explore how clinicians can bring the healing power of nature into their therapeutic work. D...
288: Kids These Days: Rethinking Youth Mental Health
Why are so many young people struggling—and are adults partly to blame? Dr. Will Dobud and Dr. Nevin Harper return to Stories from the Field to talk w...
287: The Nature Fix: The Science of the Outdoors and Mental Health
Journalist and bestselling author Florence Williams joins Will to explore how time outdoors can transform our minds and bodies. Drawing from her accla...
286: The Trade Program: Earn While Growing, Learn By Doing
In this week's episode, Will welcomes experiential educator Greg Hitchcock, who shares the story of The Trade—a paid apprenticeship and next-step prog...
285: Grief, Healing, and the Outdoors: The Bright Shadow Approach
In this episode Will speaks with Somerville Johnston, co-founder of Bright Shadow, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people navigate grief and loss th...
284: Nature-Based Mental Health: The LifeWays Approach
In this episode, Will sits down with Chris Brown, founder of the LifeWays Wilderness Institute in Durango, Colorado. Lifeways offers a unique blend of...
283: Alone Winner Nathan Olsen on Survival, Wilderness Therapy and Family
In this episode, Will welcomes back Nathan Olsen—winner of the latest season of Alone. Nathan's roots in wilderness survival run deep: his father, Lar...
282: Chris Robbins on Men Healing Outdoors and The Let Them Theory
In this episode, Will reconnects with his friend Chris Robbins, founder of Soul Degree men's retreats and husband of bestselling author Mel Robbins. C...
281: Boys, Men, and the Truths of Wilderness Therapy
In this episode, Will speaks with Jason Denham, founder of Awakened Shadow Coaching, about his two decades of work with boys, men and other genders in...
280: From Transport to Transformation: Enzo Narciso on Wilderness Therapy & Mentoring
In this compelling follow-up to Episode 98, Enzo Narciso returns to Stories from the Field to reflect on his transformation since first sharing his jo...
279: Anxiety, Connection, and the Outdoors: How Dr. Jack Hinman Helps Struggling Young Adults at Engage Transitions
In this insightful episode Will talks with Dr. Jack Hinman, co-founder and executive director of Engage Transitions, shares his personal path from a c...
278: Tents, Trust, and Transformation: How Wilderness Therapy Helps People Build Resilience and Heal
In this episode Will speaks with Jeff Holloway, a veteran social worker and therapeutic consultant from Lumos Strategies with decades of experience in...
277. From Crisis to Connection: A Parent’s Journey Through Teen Substance Use, Wilderness Therapy, and What Comes After
In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Will is joined by parent coach Beth Hillman, a mother of five sons whose life was turned upside down whe...