Adventure Therapy: Youngsters with autism on board
Alessandra Basso, Antonella Tosetti, Paolo Cornaglia Ferraris
This article describes both the therapeutic and educational opportunities offered by spending one week on board a sailing ship with a military crew belonging to the Italian Navy. The «Fondazione Tender To Nave ITALIA» ONLUS (TTNI) («Tender to Nave ITALIA Foundation») has been running for 11 years and carries out projects with young people who are deemed vulnerable because of mental health issues, chronic illness, adverse life experiences or disability. We describe how outdoor experience in a natural context has been planned to teach cooperation and induce courage and flexibility in order to develop life skills while enhancing self-esteem. Youngsters with autism have taken part with the support of trained therapists and an understanding crew. Many of the life skills needed can be practiced and developed several times over the week. As yet, no systematic evaluation has been done. However, our preliminary observations confirm that the sailing adventure experience is highly beneficial to autistic youths.
Keywords
Adventure Therapy, autism, autonomy, self-esteem, social skills.
