Best Practices: Introduction *DRAFT*
TAPG has been engaged in efforts to produce a statement of best practice for adventure therapy (AT) since 2001, with writing beginning in 2007. TAPG has coordinated Adventure Therapy Best Practices conferences that have served as catalysts for this effort and continue to that end. The intent of this effort is to identify appropriate practices and establishes standards for the field. The following is to be considered a working document in its attempt to provide programming standards for the administration of adventure and wilderness therapy programs. This statement will reside on the TAPG website and be updated as the field grows in knowledge and understanding.
Best practices are the elements and activities of intervention design, planning, and implementation that are recommended based on the best knowledge available. They are informed by historic precedent, practitioner experience and judgment, theoretical developments, and empirical and basic research results. This template for best practices will continue to be informed by research with the intent to establish adventure therapy as an empirically validated treatment. It is designed to inform practitioners, consumers, and policy makers on theory, process, and outcomes guiding AT.
The website is currently in draft form and we are seeking feedback from you about what you see. The website provides definition and structure, with bibliographies indicating where the reader can get more detailed information. The only developed content at this time is the Treatment Applications section. If you have feedback or are interested in being part of this project, please contact:
Kim Sacksteder
Best Practices Steering Committee Chair
It is proposed that this template for best practices could integrate the various approaches of AT into a common body of knowledge that can then be presented as best practices to the Association of Experiential Education (AEE) and it’s associated professional group, the Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group (TAPG), as well as the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Industry Council (OBHIC), the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps (NATWC), the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and others. The information on this website is designed from a U.S. perspective, but may have utility for other countries engaging in AT.
