Designing Residential Wilderness Programs for Adults

Designing Residential Wilderness Programs for Adults Synopsis

Physically and emotionally removed from everyday responsibilities, participants in adult residential education in wilderness areas are free to examine and even reevaluate their lives, their values, and their relationships. When adult learners accept that they are part of a complex and intimately connected web of life, they are much more likely to respect and preserve all remaining wilderness areas. Link residential living to wilderness, and the opportunity to contrast natural and civilized environments dramatically facilitates relationship building and self-examination. This book provides practical suggestions for successfully designing such experiences. Though many illustrations in the book come directly from the authors' experiences in residential programs in wilderness areas, the underpinning assumptions and programmatic techniques can be applied in many residential settings.