COIMBATORE: Fear is the key, says Seshadri; then he adds a ‘perhaps’. Only because he does not want to make a sweeping statement about something his team members and he are still trying to prove conclusively: how adventure activities can be used as therapy to help young people especially, to deal with psychological issues.
Commander Seshadri Venkatesan is the director of National Adventure and Leadership Skills (NALS), which has been around for eight years and functions out of the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. “More than 18,000 people, young and old, men and women, have participated in our outdoor programmes. But while the thrust is on corporate programmes to develop leadership skills, team building and so on, we notice how outdoor activities have a deeper and positive psychological impact,” he says.
Akila Vaidyanathan, Director, AMAZE Charitable Trust, and one of the founder-members of Autism Society of India, has no problem endorsing that thought. Along with NALS, Amaze has organized seven outdoor camps for children with autism and their families.
“There is always a search for avenues where they can expend their energy. The adventure camp provides a challenge. The children sometimes have problems with motor skills and struggle with new movements. These adventure activities encourage them to try out different things.” Akila explains how children with autism are sensitive to noise, temperature, and commotion. “There are no disturbances in Nature. Forest noises are soothing. They respond well to the calm and peace. In regular playgrounds, the children feel the pressure. They have to navigate the social aspects that they find unsettling.”
Akila adds that, in outdoor activities, there are no distractions of technology. She hopes to promote the concept of Adventure and Autism and take it across the country. “Seshadri has set up an adventure course in our centre and is willing to go anywhere in India to set up similar courses.” Akila says being in the outdoors is always therapeutic for both children and their families. “The parents get to recognise their children’s potential,” she says.
V. Parvathi, Psychologist and Physiotherapist, has been counselling parents of children with ADHD to attend these camps.
“These children have a short attention span and are hyperactive. They need to concentrate intensely when they tackle the high ropes and other activities in the camp and it shows a marked improvement in their attention and focus.” Dr. Parvathi says generally, in these days of nuclear families and working parents, communication is a big issue and being in the great outdoors as a family helps cut across barriers.
Dr. Parvathi is one of the two psychologists that Seshadri has taken on board to validate what his team and he have observed: How a couple of days spent outdoors helps young people feel better about themselves and helps them communicate better as a family.
Seshadri met Michael A. Gass, who has done considerable research in adventure therapy and bringing adventure into marriage and family therapy, in 2014 in Bangalore. “Families are the backbone of this country,” says Seshadri and fears that, if this is not brought home to the youngsters, there will be trouble.
A.G. V. Narayanan, Dean of the Faculty of Management, EBET Group of Institutions at Kangeyam, has made it a point to send the freshers of the MBA programme to adventure camps.
“I have often felt that the 70-80 per cent marks that these students get in the undergraduate years does little for their personality. Most of them seem disoriented, unfocussed and directionless. But a stint outdoors has worked miracles with some,” he says. He talks about a young student who seemed a complete misfit in the Management programme. He was below average academically, couldn’t speak well, had anger management issues and was clearly troubled.
The outdoor experience brought about an amazing change. He became polite, punctual, disciplined and more communicative. The student went back for more adventure outings with NALS and even served an internship there. Dr. Narayanan says that the boy improved dramatically in his social graces and academics and is now awaiting placement in a multinational.
“Discipline, punctuality, self esteem and confidence all get a boost when the students are put through their paces,” he says.
“Adventure activities generate fear with excitement, not the kind of fear that cows one down. It pushes and makes them draw on reserves of strength that they did not know they had,” says Seshadri.
It also distracts them enough to forget their present troubles and come out of depression. Like the nine-year- old who was traumatised by her mother’s suicide.
She was withdrawn, wouldn’t speak and was terribly insecure. “But something gave when she was on the high ropes. May be it was the fear of falling that shifted her thoughts. The instinct to save herself acted as a trigger and the girl slowly opened up.”
NALS has also worked with Alcoholics Anonymous to rehabilitate alcoholics and has met with some success. Seshadri hopes psychologists and counsellors who provide therapy to troubled minds and relationships will use adventure therapy as a tool and an alternative treatment to medication.
“I have reached out to NIMHANS asking if they could do some research on this and also to other adventure providers who can participate, so that more people can benefit. I am happy to share the information and knowhow I have with anyone who wants it.”
