Adventure Mind 2022

A conference series exploring the importance of adventure to wellbeing and mental health. For outdoor professionals, wellbeing practitioners, researchers, brands, policy makers & all adventurers.

Duration: 7th & 8th November 2022 | Location: Conisbrough near Sheffield

ADVENTURE MIND 2022

PRESENTERS

Presenters include adventure leaders and adventure researchers:

• Belinda Kirk, explorer, researcher and author of Adventure Revolution, the first book to explain why adventure is essential to wellbeing

• Martin Chester, Mountain Guide and Adventure Consultant

• Dave Bunting MBE, Expedition Leader, Mountaineer

• John Allan, Head of Learning and Impact at Inspiring Learning.

• Charlotte Boenigk, Founder of Free Your Instinct, a charity that offers parkour for those with a recognised mental health need and final year PhD candidate

• Dave Gallagher, Mountain Leader, Chartered Psychologist and Cognitive Neuroscientist

• Chris Kay, Senior Research Fellow working with Carnegie Great Outdoors, predominantly on a project called Battle Back.

• Gill Pomfret, Associate Professor in Tourism, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

• Dr Manuel Sand, Professor in Outdoor Sports and Adventure Management, University of Applied Management in Treuchtlingen, Germany

• Dr Carola May, Professor in Tourism Management, IU International University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany

• Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology, University of Exeter, UK. Examining the relationship between children's adventurous play and mental health.

• Di Westaway OAM, Founder at Wild Women On Top, Australia, creating life changing adventures that get women walking in nature for good.

• Anita Kerwin-Nye, lead national voice on access and inclusion. Currently Director of Strategy and Engagement at YHA and Lead at Every Child Should

• Bryan Jones, Head of the School of Sport and Health Sciences at University of Central Lancashire, UK. A sport psychologist and performance coach

AGENDA

Martin Chester

"Out of adversity comes opportunity - the evolution of the outdoor sector"

Martin has worked in adventure for 30 years. He is an international ski & mountain guide, was the Director of Training at Plas y Brenin and Chief Executive of the National Indoor Climbing Award Schemes. Martin was co-author of the “Getting Active Outdoors” report in 2015; Strategic lead for the "GetOutside - Activity in a time of COVID-19" project and author of the Great Outdoors Opportunities paper as the OIA’s response to Sport England’s new ‘Uniting The Movement’ Strategy. He brings extensive experience of the design and review of numerous outdoor interventions (for the likes of Forestry England, National Trust, and a host of National Governing Bodies etc) as well as an understanding of grass-roots delivery issues. 

 Martin will run the opening presentation and workshop focussed on how wellbeing has become a central pillar of the adventure industry in recent years and what this means for individuals, small and large organisations. Where does adventure-for-wellbeing fit into the post-covid adventure industry and community? How should we plan, design, communicate and collaborate differently to provide outdoor experiences that are impactful, accessible and relevant?

Dave Bunting MBE and Dr Chris Kay

“How to run a mountain expedition to promote personal development”

Dave is an expedition leader and ex-British Forces mountaineering specialist, who spent many years as the Chief Training Instructor of the Joint Services mountain training centres around the world. In 2006 he led a team of climbers from the British Army on a ground-breaking attempt to become the first British team to climb the formidable West Ridge of Mount Everest.

Chris is a Senior Research Fellow working predominantly with wounded, injured and sick military personnel at The Battle Back Centre. Chris's research concerns the way in which participating in structured adapted adventurous activities helps facilitate recovery, personal growth and aspects of psychological and physiological wellbeing.

Dave and Chris recently led “Mission Himalaya” to explore the impact of a supported high-altitude mountaineering expedition on the wellbeing and personal development of military veterans with longstanding well-being concerns. They discuss their findings but also go into detail to explore how the planning, preparation, training, leadership style, decision-making and post-expedition follow up was designed to specifically promote wellbeing and growth. Including lessons and design that could be used on future expeditions with different client groups in different locations. 

Charlotte Boenigk  

“Reconnecting to a post covid world through parkour”

Charlotte founded Free Your Instinct, a charity that offers parkour to those with a recognised mental health need, in 2014 and is currently a final year PhD candidate researching parkour for mental health.

Charlotte has found that by physically engaging with the environment, participants are able to re-establish a positive dialogue with themselves and their surroundings, bringing many of the benefits of adventure based activities into the participants' urban home. Charlotte will deliver a 1hour practical parkour workshop focusing on reconnecting with yourself and your environment post covid, offering insight into classes delivered by Free Your Instinct. Charlotte will guide you through the session delivery, exploring a person-centred approach to teaching, how to understand and respond to the needs of individuals. Please attend with comfortable clothes, trainers and a curious mind. These techniques can potentially be used or taught anywhere (urban or wilderness) with little extra training or equipment yet are proving to provide great impact. 

Dr John Allan 

“How to measure the impact of your adventure activity on wellbeing”

John is an established academic and outdoor practitioner and is currently the Head of Learning and Impact, Inspiring Learning. Inspiring Learning is the UK’s largest provider of adventure education programmes for young people. John’s area of expertise centres on positive psychology, strength-based learning, and resilience building. He led the world’s largest study profiling the psychological resilience of Higher Education students and has developed a range of intervention programmes for enabling the strength-based functioning of elite mountaineers climbing the world’s highest peaks

John will deliver an overview of the ways in which you can measure the impact of any adventurous activity on wellbeing with data (quantitative) and through personal testimony (qualitative). Even small or large, companies or not-for-profit organisations that have a history of producing high quality impact data will have the opportunity to re-examine what’s possible.

Diane Westaway OAM 

“The mental health rescue effects of women's outdoor tourism”

Founder of Wild Women On Top, Australia,, a social purpose enterprise which has inspired and empowered over 60,000 women to hike together for fun, fitness, friendship and fundraising since 2001. Her adventures get women walking in nature to create joy and transform lives. 

Di has published research on the mental health rescue effects of women's outdoor tourism. Outcomes include psychological transformation, happiness, gratitude, relaxation, clarity and insights, nature appreciation, challenge and capability, and companionship and community effects. Commercial outdoor tourism enterprises can contribute powerfully to the wellbeing of women and families. This will be especially valuable for mental health recovery, following deterioration during COVID-19 coronavirus lockdowns worldwide.

Dave Gallagher 

“Excite and delight challenge mindset workshop (abseiling)”

Dave Gallagher is a Chartered Psychologist and Cognitive Neuroscientist, affiliated with Liverpool John Moores University. His research in adventure neuropsychology focuses on how the brain adapts and thrives in challenging environments: from psychological benefits of tall ship voyages in young people, to measuring brains at high altitude, and doing a tandem BASE jump in the name of science. Dave is a Mountain Leader, RYA Day Skipper and technical SCUBA diver, also certified in stress management and performance coaching.

Dave will run the challenge mindset workshop on the abseiling wall. When confronting exposure such as at a cliff edge, it’s natural to experience the ‘stress response’. This can make people want to move hurriedly away from the perceived danger but facing one’s fears and overcoming this stress response can be very empowering. Using insights from psychology and neuroscience, we can encourage people to approach the edge and adopt a mindset that embraces the challenge of being in a stressful situation. The workshop will involve an introduction on the neuropsychology of stress management based on cutting edge research, including demonstration of techniques such as mindfulness and breathing control whilst poised over the edge secured on a rope. With a ‘challenge mindset’ individuals exposed to height become more in control over their stress response (‘excite and delight’ not ‘fright or flight’), abseiling back down to the ground. These techniques and mindset can be taken away and applied to dealing with everyday stress.

Gill Pomfret, Manuel Sand & Carola May

“Exploring the interplay between outdoor adventure, wellbeing and culture”

Dr Gill Pomfret is Associate Professor in Tourism, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Gill’s latest research examines the role that outdoor activity participation and protected natural environments play in developing individuals’ coping skills, resilience and subjective wellbeing. Dr Manuel Sand is Professor in Outdoor Sports and Adventure Management, University of Applied Management in Treuchtlingen, Germany. Manuel is academic director of the University’s Adventure Campus and course administrator for the degree in Outdoor Sports and Adventure Management. Dr Carola May is Professor in Tourism Management, IU International University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany. Carola’s teaching concentrates on the interrelation of culture, space and tourism, sustainable destination management, tourism practices and trends. Dr Jelena Farkić, Lecturer in Tourism, Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. Jelena’s research explores the interplay between subjective wellbeing and slow adventure, forestbathing and idleness.

Inspired by Adventure Mind 2020 this international research team went on to explore the role that outdoor adventure plays in people’s subjective wellbeing. It presents the key findings from interviews with individuals across three cultures, from the UK, Germany, and Serbia. An emerging body of research now investigates how individuals maintain and enhance their subjective wellbeing through partaking in adventure activities although little is known about the influence of culture on these outcomes. Furthermore, researchers find that the way that adventure recreation and tourism are represented is markedly different from one culture to another. The international research team have explored the perceptions that different cultures have of adventure, what adventure means to these individuals, and what subjective wellbeing benefits they gain from engaging with outdoor activities. Their findings can help the adventure industry in these countries to develop product offerings and experiences which fit the needs of their clients.

Professor Helen Dodd

"Adventurous play as a route to decreasing children’s anxiety risk"

Helen is a Professor of Child Psychology in the College of Medicine and Health (CMH), University of Exeter. She is an expert in child mental health with a particular interest in the development of childhood anxiety disorders. She recently received the Margaret Donaldson Award from the British Psychology Society for her outstanding contribution to developmental psychology. Helen’s presentation and discussion will focus on the research program she heads which examines the relationship between children's adventurous play and mental health. 

Rates of emotional disorders in 5-15 years olds increased by 49% between 2004 and 2017. Of these, anxiety disorders are the most common. Today, in the UK, approximately half a million children have an anxiety disorder. At the same time as we have seen rates of anxiety increasing, children’s opportunities for outdoor, adventurous play have decreased. Adventurous play is defined as thrilling, exhilarating play where the child experiences a level of fear and takes age-appropriate risks. Common forms of adventurous play in children include climbing trees, riding a bike fast downhill and swinging on a rope swing. Extensive research has examined risk factors for child anxiety and established cognitive factors that underpin anxiety in children. As a result we now have a good understanding of some of the factors that underpin children’s anxiety risk. In this talk I will describe how adventurous play could be used as a mechanism to target these risk factors in children and, in turn, to decrease their anxiety risk. I will describe the existing evidence that supports these ideas and outline a research agenda that will allow us to evidence what children learn when they are given autonomy and space to play in an adventurous way

Bryan Jones 

“Where adventure-for-wellbeing fits in the social prescribing network”

Head of the School of Sport and Health Sciences at University of Central Lancashire, UK. Bryan's background is in performance sport, having worked as a sport psychologist, strength and conditioning coach and performance coach in this domain. Bryan has also delivered performance support in large businesses and now provides training to coaches who operate in a performance domain in both sport and business.

We think social prescribing offers a considerable - and underutilised - opportunity for financial support and therefore growth in delivery of adventure-for-wellbeing, to both corporate and not-for-profit organisations, whether you offer small adventures or overseas expeditions. A team from the University of Central Lancashire’s Social Prescribing Unit will present an overview of the support available, the existing community and systems and suggest where adventure and wellbeing organisations and practitioners might fit into this. 

Caspian Jamie

“How to adapt bushcraft and climbing programmes to improve wellbeing’’

Caspian is the Lead Outdoor Therapist at The Therapy Adventure and Climbing Calm CIC. His team specialises in the creation of award winning therapeutic outdoor and adventure programmes that have been licensed to more than 200 practitioners worldwide. 

Caspian will lead a practical exploration of how we can adapt outdoor and adventure based programmes to enhance the benefits to mental health and wellbeing.  This will include understanding how existing sessions can be adapted through demonstrations of examples such as bushcraft for wellbeing for adults with mild to moderate mental health difficulties and, on the climbing wall, how to use climbing as a therapeutic tool for teenagers.

Belinda Kirk

Adventure Mind Host & Adventure-for-Wellbeing campaigner

Belinda is the author of the best-selling, award-nominated book “Adventure Revolution: The life-changing power of choosing challenge” the first book to explain the psychology of why adventure is essential to wellbeing. Belinda has run Explorers Connect since 2009 inorder to promote the message that adventure is beneficial to wellbeing and has encouraged over 30,000 ordinary people to engage in outdoor challenges. An explorer in her own right, Belinda has walked across Nicaragua, searched for camels in China's Desert of Death, discovered ancient rock paintings in Lesotho, pioneered inclusive expeditions for people with disabilities, lead dozens of youth development expeditions around the world and gained a Guinness World Record for rowing unsupported around Britain. Belinda has managed remote trips for, amongst others, Bear Grylls, Ray Mears & Chris Ryan and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and British Exploring Society. She is also an Ambassador for The Youth Adventure Trust.

Meet The Authors 

There will be an extended ‘Meet The Authors’ session where small group discussion and Q&A will be possible with a selection of scientists, writers, campaigners and adventure practitioners who have published research in this area in the last 18months. 

(NB Still updating this list but currently likely to include the team behind a huge study of the impact of camping on wellbeing, family tourism researcher, a researcher who’s been exploring the impact of buddy systems post-expedition, a psychologist who’s developed an adventure therapy programme for traumatised children, a researcher who’s explored the wellbeing outcomes of long distance cycling, a well-known adventure influencer who is using this new research to enable young women, Belinda Kirk author of Adventure Revolution, a business leader who’s incorporating adventure mindset into business in a novel way, several other researchers with publications re adventure-for-wellbeing.

Guided Netwalking

There will be a guided small group “netwalking” to a view point on the Yorkshire Trans Pennine Trail

The agenda and speakers might change due to unforseen circumstances.

WHO IS ADVENTURE MIND FOR?

LOCATION

WHAT’S INCLUDED

ACCOMMODATION

There are various accommodation options in the area however comfortable rooms are available onsite and can be booked direct through the venue. You can book Sunday and/or Monday night.

Bed and Breakfast in your own en-suite room is £54 per person plus VAT per night

Bed and Breakfast in a shared twin en-suite room is £34 per person plus VAT per night

Bed and Breakfast in a shared en-suite dorm is £25 per person plus VAT per night

You can book accommodation here.

DATES

• 10.30am Monday 7th November until 4pm Tuesday 8th November 2022

• Terms & Conditions: Click here for our cancellation policy and full Ts&Cs

Belinda Kirk and Explorers Connect want to ensure adventure is woven into everyones’ lives. We are rallying the troops: with the ultimate aim to get adventure on the national agenda, to make it accessible to all, and delivered as effectively as possible. 

To achieve this, we are doing what we do best: establishing a solid community with a shared ambition. Explorers Connect is in a unique position to bridge the gap between the practitioners, the researchers and the public - to build momentum for adventure theory and provide a channel to execute that theory and report back on effectiveness, via our 28,000 strong community of adventure enthusiasts.

Read Belinda’s article about what led her to create Adventure Mind here.

QUESTIONS?

If you'd like to know more about the conference please email belinda@explorersconnect.com and we'll do our best to help you.