Wilderness Experiential Therapy for Addiction with Will Black

Will black is a wilderness guide who takes young men out in to the mountains of Alberta as a treatment for addiction. He works for a treatment camp called Shunda Creek, which is a 90 day government funded program for men aged 18-25. The program uses curated experiences combined with intention to carve new pathways in the brain.

Will has a wealth of experience in activating change mechanisms in his clients, through challenge in the wilderness. 

Topics covered in this podcast:

• The value of wildnerness therapy and the original classroom
• Experience as a doorway to embodiment
• Trauma locked in to the body
• What does an empowering experience do in the body
• Addiction: Choice vs. Disease - Dr. Kevin McCauley
• Addiction and reward system dysregulation
• Serotonin and the benefits of recovering from something together.
• Adventure Thresholds: How to design an experience to create optimal change through perceived risk. 
• Aligning attention with intention to match consciousness with the unconsciousness 
• The 3 brains: Reptilian, Mamillian, Human
• Stigma and the shaming of addiction
• Mindfulness and the key to rewiring the mind

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