Adventure Mind 2022

 

It all started when…

The 2020 event was aimed at the international researchers in the fields of Tourism, Adventure Education, Outdoor Education and Psychology. With presentations under the following topics:

The Wellbeing Impacts of Adventure

Transformation

Growth and Post Traumatic Growth

The Hero’s Journey

Enduring Resilience and Performance

Embracing Fear

Embracing Failure

The Adventurer’s Mindset

Belinda used the conference to present these previously unconnected disciplines and ideas together for the first time, in order to ask the international research community to reassess how they are approaching and framing ‘adventure’.

To ask the researchers with help to rebrand and reclaim ‘adventure’. From something that has overwhelmingly been viewed and studied by researchers as something elite or unusual (even practiced only by those with a ‘death wish’). To the way Belinda views adventure, as a way to improve wellbeing and connect with the planet.

Belinda also asked for collaboration and shared the ideas underpinning her upcoming book “Adventure Revolution: the life-changing power of choosing challenge” the first book to finally explain the psychology of why adventure is essential for our wellbeing

ADVENTURE MIND 2020 OVERVIEW REPORT

The first ever conference on the importance of adventure for wellbeing!

The conference was hugely impactful, so much so that future Adventure Mind conferences will now focus on supporting adventure-for-wellbeing practitioners instead of trying to push the need for research in this area. These are just a few of the outcomes:

  • Researchers and practitioners from eight countries gathered and were presented a new view of adventure, one that promotes adventure-for-wellbeing and the desperate need for more research in this area.

  • Multiple new adventure-for-wellbeing research projects were begun inspired by the conference, involving researchers from six different countries.

  • Researchers connected for the first time and agreed to create the first academic textbook about the psychology of adventure and wellbeing. Researchers from the conference are writing this book to be published in 2022.

  • Multiple connections were made between researchers and adventure practitioners. This will be important over the coming year for improved measuring and recording for impact reporting, essential for organisations. And allow individual outdoor leaders to facilitate adventure activities to be even more beneficial to wellbeing. And give researchers better access to new data.

  • Adventurers were encouraged to take on further research into this area. Two professional adventurers decided to take on Masters research into resilience as a result of this conference.

  • A new podcast was launched to spread the word about the importance of adventure to wellbeing.

  • A collaborative approach to delivering adventure for wellbeing was drafted.

Thank you to all who joined us, who spoke, who volunteered, and who worked hard to make it such a productive and inspiring two days. If you’d like a first-hand account of the conference, this blog from Zoe at HeadRightOut does a great job of bringing it to life.

Here are some photos from the event. Many thanks to Greg Childs, our brilliant photographer.

Information on subsequent AdventureMind conferences