Congratulations to Mark Johnston for being awarded the Tall Tōtara award at last week’s NZOIA Excellence Awards 2024!

Awarded to a current instructor or guide who personifies ‘excellence in outdoor leadership’. A highly respected role model, someone who has contributed significantly to outdoor education in New Zealand through both work with clients and with aspirant instructors/guides.

Mark exemplifies the highest standards of professionalism, dedication, and passion for the outdoors and our outdoor community. His unwavering commitment to the sector, along with his focus on safety, personal development, and the growth of others, is inspirational to all he encounters. His dedication is evident in every aspect of his work, from solid preparation to his calm, competent, yet enthusiastic approach in the field.

Mark’s career as an outdoor instructor and guide spans almost three decades and he has consistently demonstrated exceptional professionalism. Much of this has been spent at Adventure Specialties Trust. One of his most admirable qualities is his commitment to seeing the best in others. He has a remarkable ability to identify and nurture potential in aspiring instructors and guides, helping them achieve their goals and grow into confident, skilled professionals.

A NZOIA member for over 25 years, he holds multiple NZOIA qualifications, Sea Kayak 2, Bush 1, Alpine 1, Rock 1, and Kayak 1. He is also a qualified raft guide. This reflects his strong technical and instructional skills. His dedication to sustainable environmental practices further underscores his role as a model for others in the field.

Congrats, Mark, you are this year’s Tall Tōtara.

Text by NZOIA
Awards Photo credit: Andy Thompson Photography NZ

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Congratulations to our CEO, Tim Wills, for being recognised as an Honorary Life Member at the NZOIA Excellence Awards last week!

This award is awarded to a member who personifies the very best combination of an excellent instructor/guide, a high achieving personal performer, and an outstanding contributor to the work and promotion of the association.

Tim Wills has had a significant impact not only on NZOIA and our wider industry, but on countless individuals he has crossed paths with.

A NZOIA member for over 30 years, he has held a raft of both land and water based NZOIA quals: Alpine 2, Bush 2, Rock 2, Kayak 1, Sea Kayak 1.

Tim easily ticks all the boxes for the Life Member criteria: providing a long-term contribution as an Assessor, in governance, on technical committees and through qualification development. No one has been more dedicated to giving their time freely to NZOIA. He completed a term as the NZOIA TSC convenor and then had his arm twisted to stand for the Board. An impressive nine years of service in total!

Tim has spent a lifetime of commitment to adventure, with many years spent working at Adventure Specialties Trust. Whether he’s scaling mountains, riding waves or chasing the wind, he’s always excited and ready for the next outdoor thing!
It’s not only about what he has done, it is about how he has done it, always bouncing with enthusiasm for the next adventure. Tim is always positive, if the weather is marginal his attitude is that it might improve! He empowers others to go beyond what they thought they could do.

A Tall Tōtara recipient in the past, it is with great pleasure that we award honorary life membership to this humble and outdoor fun seeker…Tim Wills!

Text written by NZOIA
Awards Photo credit: Andy Thompson Photography NZ

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Meri Kirihimete!

I hope this year has been a fulfilling one and now you have some time to relax and enjoy a slower pace. Our staff are looking forward to a well-deserved break and also a slower pace, as we wind down for the year (although I’m sure many of them will go on personal adventures).

As you read this newsletter, you will see that they haven’t been sitting on their laurels and have been facilitating some great adventurous programmes and bringing positive change and experiences to so many.

I am proud of our team, who not only love the outdoor ‘office’ that they work in, but also have a real, genuine care and concern for the people they work with.

We are not just an ‘activity provider’. We use the outdoors to facilitate growth and change. You will have read some of these stories in this newsletter.

On a more personal note, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my mother, who recently passed away at the age of 84, after a well-lived life. She was an extraordinary woman and a selfless servant, quietly touching the lives of many—a fact that became evident during and after her funeral. Her life story was a reminder that our impact can extend far beyond what we may perceive.

We can never truly know the level of influence we have on someone’s life.

This leads us to the Christmas message of hope and goodwill. The story of a baby boy who grew up to influence many and who brought about transformative change in ways that we may never fully comprehend.

May this Christmas be a time of renewed hope and a reminder that our actions can create that transformative change, like my mother did for so many, and as our mahi at Adventure
Specialties Trust continues to do.

So, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers,

Tim Wills

CEO

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[Please note that the photos in this article are not from the RESTORE programme, to protect the privacy of the programme participants.]

The benefits of small groups include:

• Meeting other people who are in a similar situation to you,
• Getting to know them, making friends,
• Trusting others,
• Communicating your needs and emotions and ideas.

Especially for people who are anxious about social situations, it’s an opportunity to practice so many skills and really build confidence in a social setting.

All of these things are much harder to achieve in individual therapy.

We often find that one of the things the participants appreciate most is the peer support that comes from the group sharing their experiences and thoughts and ideas with each other.

Take, for example, our RESTORE programmes which have been running in Auckland and Christchurch this year.

RESTORE is for people who are off work for mental health reasons (like anxiety, depression, stress or burnout) and are on the Job Seekers benefit. We use Adventure Therapy to support them on their journey towards hauora (health and wellbeing).

Check out the feedback that we have received from the participants:

“It was comforting to learn that EVERYONE goes through stuff and everyone struggles from time to time.”

“It gave me a reason to get out of bed and have interactions with people outside my immediate circle. Being able to have meaningful conversations impacted my day positively.”

“It’s helped me realise that people do care and there are programmes that help bring change and help bring life back.”

“This programme has made me realise how important connection is for my wellbeing. Connecting with nature and people help to lift my mood and give me a sense of belonging.”

“This programme has made a difference in multiple ways: communicating with others, feeling better in nature, different ways to look at things, and feeling safer in the community.”

“I’m more positive, confident and clearer about who I am and what brings me to life. I’ve learned that I don’t have to be perfect and giving my best is fine. I’ve learned too that I have a lot to offer other people because of who I am. I have appreciated this opportunity. I am no longer suicidal, I have more hope and can feel joy, self-pride and gratitude.”

[This article is from our Christmas newsletter. Read the rest of the newsletter here (PDF)]

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One of KidsCan’s projects is the KidsCan Youth Council. It is a year-long scholarship programme which supports young people towards success, leadership and community
engagement.

The Youth Council is made up of ten students (aged 16-18) from all around Aotearoa New Zealand, who have been under-privileged or come from resilient backgrounds or who have benefitted from KidsCan programmes themselves. They are young people who have a desire to help others and want the opportunity to have a leadership role in their communities.

KidsCan partnered with us to create a 3-day outdoor adventure programme which focused on supporting the Youth Council students in gaining confidence and leadership skills, plus developing individual goals for themselves.

Our instructors, Nat and Joel, took the group kayaking and hiking around Waitākere Ranges Regional Park.

They also led the group in some leadership activities which focused on understanding different values and different comfort levels within a group. For example, they were asked questions like “How comfortable do you feel in deep water?” or “How much do you value time alone by yourself?” or “How connected do you feel to your culture?”

Seeing everyone’s different answers helped the students to understand how we all have different values and experiences, which, in turn, helps develop self-awareness as well as empathy and understanding for others.

After the programme, the students gave us some feedback:

“The group activities have helped me be able to talk and communicate with people I don’t know.”

“I’ve learned to be ambitious [with my goals]. It could pay off.”

“Our hike was so hard. It felt good to complete it, though.”

Ray, the KidsCan co-ordinator, gave this feedback:

“Kayaking was a youth fav. There was a good balance of education, skill, ease, exploration and playfulness. The hike was incredible and a great challenge for the youth. [The instructors] both had a very relaxed nature which made it easy for youth to feel comfortable and safe around. Good safety and risk management. I look forward to working with Adventure Specialties Trust again!”

This article is taken from our December 2023 Christmas newsletter.

Click here to read the rest of the newsletter.

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Here are some quotes from the young women who attended:

• Discovering your strengths and building self-worth;
• Taha Hinengaro (wellbeing of the mind) and self-kindness;
• Taha Wairua (spirituality), awe and wonder, connection to the land and to nature;
• Whanaungatanga (family and community), our support networks, repairing and strengthening relationships;
• Tools for building hauora (health and wellbeing), managing anxiety, recognising glimmers of joy, mindfulness, gratitude.

FIND OUT MORE

Want to find out more about our INSPIRE programme? Or come along next time? Find out more about INSPIRE Auckland and INSPIRE Christchurch. Want to learn more about Adventure Therapy? Read about it on our website or pop in for a chat and a cuppa at our Auckland or Christchurch offices.

Read the rest of our Christmas newsletter

This blog post is from our Christmas newsletter. Read the rest of the newsletter online (PDF).

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REVIVE is a new Adventure Therapy day programme (one day a week over eight weeks) for clients who are being supported by ACC’s Integrated Service for Sensitive Claims (ISSC) therapists.

We have just completed our first REVIVE programme in Christchurch.

Anneke (a qualified therapist and our Adventure Therapy Clinician) and Amy (a qualified counsellor and our Adventure Therapy Manager) met up with seven women who are clients of ACC’s ISSC.

The group spent eight Tuesdays adventuring together – walking, rafting, sea kayaking, surfing, rock climbing, on the high ropes course, and orienteering.

Anneke recounts, “We’ve laughed and cried together, reflected and shared together, eaten and celebrated birthdays together. We’ve taken brave steps to try new things and get to new heights. We’ve turned to the natural world as a resource for grounding and calming, tuned in to what our bodies need and taken rest when we’ve needed it. We’ve expressed ourselves creatively and acknowledged all that our bodies can do! Our women plan to continue to meet up socially which speaks so beautifully to our hope that people leave our programmes feeling ‘woven into community’.”

Adventure Specialties Trust has contracted an Independent Researcher to evaluate this programme (and the next three), to ensure that we are adequately supporting these participants, and to demonstrate the benefits of this active therapeutic environment for participants who have experienced trauma and significant harm.

We have a men’s group in the pipeline too!

QUOTES FROM THE PARTICIPANTS

Here are a couple of quotes from our women, about how this programme has made a difference to their lives:

“I’m wanting to be outside – to feel the air, have the air in my lungs and to know, even when it’s raining and I am soaked through, that I am in my element and I love it.”

“I had to learn to trust while on high ropes – this has helped me to trust someone outside and not to believe the world is such a scary place.”

“My confidence has increased. My capabilities in what I can achieve has increased. My trust in myself and my body has increased. My self-esteem has increased.”

“The connections made in this group are priceless. The group plan on staying in touch, continuing to support each other and grow. It can be hard to find like-minded people, but this group rocked.”

FIND OUT MORE

Find out more about our REVIVE programme.

Or Contact Us if you would like to talk to someone about the programme.

Learn more about Adventure Therapy.

Browse other Adventure Therapy programmes.

Return to Homepage.

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Thank you, Foundation North, for funding the purchase of our new mountain bikes so that more young people can experience the joy of being outdoors!

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Our Christchurch team got together a few weeks ago for a 2-day staff training event (which happens once each term). Instructor Peter described it like this:

“April ran a session up at Sign of the Bellbird on pūrākau [Māori myths and legends], looking at the Māori place names of the local areas that we travel to on our programmes. Then we headed out to Little River and stayed the night there. Then I ran a session on flax weaving, looking at the tikanga [Māori customs] around it and methods of rope-making. Then we had a workshop on how to integrate these learnings into our Adventure Therapy/Adventure With Purpose programmes, before heading back to the office for adrenalin training.”

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E huri tō aroaro ki te rā, tukuna tō ataarangi ki muri i a koe.
Turn and face the sun, and let your shadow fall behind you.

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