Therapeutic Adventure Specialist Certification (CTAS)

The core competencies of this certification are based on the clinical competencies from the Clinical Adventure Therapist certification but were adopted by a task force of experts in recreation therapy, veterans work, wilderness therapy guides, and residential and community-based therapeutic adventure practitioners working in behavioral healthcare and support. The task force recognized that the most effective use of therapeutic adventure comes from well-trained and experienced practitioners capable of professionally balancing adventure and facilitation skills common in behavioral healthcare. Too often, they have found that practitioners have adventure experience but not effective facilitation experience or facilitation experience. This credential aims to remedy that. Practitioners with this credential can effectively assess basic clinical needs, apply correct adventure-based interventions, and facilitate both the adventure and processing effectively. Therapeutic Adventure practitioners often work in behavioral healthcare or behavioral support roles. These professionals will benefit from clearly delineating who is an experienced, competent practitioner. This can help safeguard high standards of physical and emotional safety and rigorous risk management strategies. Research conducted on wilderness therapy programs shows that participants in accredited programs had lower rates of injury or accidents than the (already low) rates of non-accredited programs**. While this data is an exciting example of professionalization's impacts on the field, it also serves as an example of how a broader sector of those practicing therapeutic adventure could benefit from a similar standard that articulates core competencies for effective therapeutic adventure practice.