Innovative Outdoor Experiential Therapy Is Valuable Addition To Dilworth Center Treatment

INNOVATIVE OUTDOOR EXPERIENTIAL THERAPY IS VALUABLE ADDITION

TO DILWORTH CENTER TREATMENT

“Peaceful, powerful”, “an opening of the mind”, “connecting to nature, to others, to myself”- these are just a few of the comments from Dilworth Center patients about Outdoor Experiential Therapy, now in its second year as an additional addiction treatment component. Rarely is there so much enthusiasm for group therapy. This innovative approach maximizes ways for patients to develop insight and personal skills in relationships, emotions, and other life skills for recovery from addiction disorders – resulting from group treatment in an outdoor wilderness environment.

Dilworth Center lead counselor Cori Trotman sees the significant impact of this approach firsthand. “Patients are taken out of the standard environment of indoor group therapy to participate in a natural setting where they connect on a deeper level” says Trotman. “This lowers their natural threshold of resistance and without the four walls of a room they get a sense of more freedom to express themselves.” Follow up questionnaires confirm high positive therapeutic impact on patients’ early recovery process. They participate in simple outdoor survival activities and games that help them focus on communication and teamwork. They also engage in related processing of their experiences and insights while sitting around a campfire. The GreatWoods Nature preserve in eastern Mecklenburg County serves as a regularly accessible site for these activities, with the help of a trained experiential clinician.

“Our patients get a chance to have tangible experiences together, helping each other and being open to go beyond their perceived limits. The get a sense of accomplishment. And the natural setting also encourages an appreciate for spirituality” according to Trotman, who brings over 35 years of addiction counseling experience and appreciates the positive impact Outdoor Experiential Therapy has added to outpatient addiction treatment at Dilworth Center. Trotman adds, “There’s so much positive feedback, patients tell us they want to do it again. It’s become an essential part of our program”

Outdoor Experiential Therapy treatment at Dilworth Center is made possible thanks to a generous grant by the ABC Board of Mecklenburg County.

– Peter Hirsch

Research Coordinator / Counselor

Dilworth Center