Outward Bound can be dangerous-on the third day of our trip another classmate and I wrecked our raft and we were very lucky we didn't drown in the roughest rapids on the river. I am still proud of completing the trip and wrote a very positive post about it after completing the trip on my own FB page, but I've had time to process it after the trip ended and I decided it is finally time to share my thoughts. This is a very subjective experience that depends on many variable factors of the trip. I don't want to end on a bad note I want to sing praises of the people I was with and the organization that really tries to do good. "Toughness," maybe, but not mental health. But on a broader level, in practice, I don’t think mental health is a focus for Outward Bound. My main feedback would be to bring a mental health clinician onboard and to bring more people of color on trips. That can be beautifully invigorating but also difficult in ways that aren’t necessarily healthy (mentally or physically). Outward Bound is an experience of the extremes. Again, this was my particular group, but the instructors were not helpful, which can be applied more generally to the organization. I’m not saying I didn’t grow I’m saying that the environment was not particularly conducive to growth as they advertise. Outward Bound, in my experience, was the opposite: it was hostile, and which breeds resentment and closing in, not growth. Outward Bound’s goals seem pretty similar to group therapy’s, but the difference is that group therapy is where safety, trust, and skilled guidance form the basis of an environment where members can be vulnerable with each other and grow together. I was sleep-deprived throughout (they said the trip was for hard work not resting) I barely got any time by myself even though a big reason I did the trip was to have space to reflect (thankfully, we got Solo, which was really great and much needed) I couldn’t sleep at night from severe itching due to hiking in over 100 degree temperatures for days and not being able to bathe in water at all (because of lack of time, because apparently mileage, curriculum, *anything else* are more important than basic forms of self-care) cliques formed and talking behind people’s backs & bullying happened (yes, in a group of 12 students, all college age and above). In general, the experience was really brutal. It ultimately became another thing I needed to deal with. ** fragility at its finest, and that too completely unrecognized by the staff. The ** male dominance was definitely present, and when I spoke up about a specific person, an instructor told me that this person was offended that I would bring up potential discrimination & superiority because that person tries their best to be equitable. It is not possible to communicate with anyone outside the group for the entire duration of the trip, so it is especially important that receiving appropriate social support is not a gamble based on the random group you go with but is systematically in place.Īlso, everyone on my trip was ** except for me (which meant I did not see a single POC for 24 days). When emotional development is such an important part of their mission AND they cater to at-risk youth, it does not make sense that a skilled professional in mental health is not present. Without them, it becomes a free-for-all of emotional guidance based on the personal experience of the instructors and students/members. Outward Bound needs at least one mental health clinician on their trips.
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