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Unseasonably warm weather this winter has Back2Basics Outdoor Adventures drug and alcohol rehab clients hiking the slopes instead of skiing them.
Outdoor Adventures Supervisor Kaylie Corrigan has a plan “B”. “While the weather closes the door on some of our usual cold weather activities, it also opens some up,” she said.
In the winter months clients are typically learning to ski, snowboard and snow shoe — in Flagstaff’s unique climate – and hike, kayak and camp in the spring and summer months.
“We are able to go swimming in January, and climb in a T-shirt in the heart if winter!” said Corrigan. “We are taking full advantage of a warm winter, and exploring new areas that are typically inaccessible year round.”
This past week clients went bouldering in Red Rocks, NV. The Outdoor Adventures are aimed to “challenge [clients’] preconceived notions about what they are capable of physically and mentally,” said Corrigan. “In my personal experience climbing [or bouldering] can be a positively addiction sport and people in recovery tend to excel at it.”
Outdoor Adventure is a major component to the Back2Basics six-month drug and alcohol rehabilitation program and transition program known as Beyond the Basics. Corrigan explains how it can center clients and have them focus on the present.
“[Wilderness therapy] enables clients to focus on their basic human needs and leave the trivial complication of life back in town. You learn to sit with yourself – without the distractions of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – [to] learn who you are with without having to project who you want the world to ‘see’ you as,” she said.
Back2Basics residential and outdoor adventures staff is currently working on other creative ways to make the most of the warm temps.