Abstract
Through the perspective of holistic health and wellness, this study explores the perceptions of helping professionals to understand adventure therapy and the use of group-based experiential interventions that utilize activities and experiences in nontraditional therapy settings. The rise of the recreational movement influenced new, alternative approaches to therapeutic interventions that were action-oriented and based on client experiences. The researcher conducted face-to-face qualitative interviews with all of the participants in this study. Through a snowball sampling method of seven helping professionals (ages 25-57 years, median age = 29), the interviews investigated to what extent the perceived strengths and challenges were for addressing client problems using adventure therapy and associated experiential interventions. Final data analysis revealed four overarching themes: improved physical health and psychological wellbeing, increased social wellness and community reintegration, strengths-based rehabilitation and incremental levels of change; and challenges, limitations and requirements. Future implications could include the addition of experiential trainings to the field of Social Work to strengthen academic research and interest in experiential education in the therapeutic realm.