mental health Archives - Adventure Specialties Trust

Teenage Girls + Mental Health

Bex | Adventure Specialties Trust — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 03:03:27 +0000

During Term 3, we ran an INSPIRE Adventure Therapy day programme (one day a week over eight weeks) for young women who have been struggling with their mental health.

Here are some quotes from the young women who attended:

“I feel hopeful about my future and that life is worth living. Before this course, I saw no purpose in life. This course has made me see the beauty in life. I no longer feel alone.”

“I have learnt to trust my thoughts and opinions. I have learnt how to handle my stress and calm myself down. This will help me to get better and recover from my depression.”

“I have learnt new skills for problem solving. This course has changed how I view life and my purpose of living.”

“It has been helpful to know how to manage my feelings and this has helped my relationships with my mum and my sister.”

“I learnt that there are always other people to help you [when you are] in need, so in the future, when I am stressed, I can always ask for help.”

“It has reminded me that there are others that have similar feelings about life and that I am not alone.”

What happened on the INSPIRE programme?

Instructors April and Justine took the young women on a different Christchurch-based adventure each week, including kayaking, coastal hīkoi (walk), high ropes confidence course, raft building, biking, and bush activities.

As well as the outdoor adventure activities, there was a daily theme which was woven into the activities and group discussions. The themes included:

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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Walk on the Wild Side: green spaces increase wellbeing

Bex | Adventure Specialties Trust — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 04:39:00 +0000

“Urban green spaces are the major point of contact with nature for many people. Researchers from New Zealand and Germany compared the effects of walking in two different natural settings: an urban forest and a landscape park. They found that both spaces increased people’s wellbeing similarly.

“They also found that when people perceived their surroundings as more wild, their feeling of being connected to nature increased.

“The authors say that individual perceptions of the natural environment can influence the extent to which being in nature increases people’s wellbeing, and this should be taken into account when designing green spaces to benefit both the environment and people.”

ARTICLE: Walk on the wild side: Urban green spaces increase well-being

Journal of Environmental Psychology

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/walk-on-the-wild-side-urban-green-spaces-increase-well-being

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Who is in your support crew?

Bex | Adventure Specialties Trust — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 04:10:34 +0000

Do you have a support crew who encourage you up the hills in your life?

During our outdoor adventure programmes, we use hills that we climb as a metaphor, to talk with the participants about the importance of relationships. We ask them who is in their support system, who has their back, who will look out for them? And how do they ask for help, how do they let their support crew know that they’re struggling?

It is an important thing to know, but not always a easy thing to do.

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