Where western medicine meets the mountains. It is often difficult to quantify why and how the wilderness is therapeutic and healing in and of itself. Today we talk with Heather Rose, a deeply passionate wilderness facilitator who has spent the last 20 years finding a way to bridge the gap between wilderness therapy and the medical community in her pursuit in creating See You At the Summit - a program dedicated to teenagers in cancer treatment. With a team of medical providers, wilderness facilitators, therapists, military, researchers, and more, See You at the Summit is launching its second summer summiting mountains and rewriting outcomes for young people experiencing cancer treatment.
In this episode we discuss:
Why is wilderness programming and outdoor facilitation so transformative and healing, particularly for this population of adolescents in cancer treatment.
The importance of quality of life that western traditional medicine often misses.
What the research is saying about how adventure is healing parts of us that medicine cannot touch.
Challenges and pushback Heather Rose faced in getting support from the medical community, and how she joined them to pursue a degree as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner in order to get support and create changes from inside the community.
You can learn more about the hosts Kristen Ales, LPC, and Kristin Mathes, LCSW by visiting their websites.
This show is brought to you by:
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