ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief history of the evolution of the field of adventure therapy (AT). It reveals the extensive history of the use of adventure and the outdoors for character development and treatment of young people in the United States and highlights significant organizations and leadership influencing the field. The Outward Bound organization had a profound impact on the field of AT. On July 20, 1960, two years before Outward Bound arrived in the United States, Kurt Hahn gave a lecture to the Outward Bound Trust outlining the origins and philosophy behind Outward Bound. The first documented integration of Outward Bound for mentally ill adolescents and adults occurred in 1975 at the Dartmouth–Hitchcock Mental Health Center in Hanover, New Hampshire. One person’s experience with Outward Bound created a movement in the West that brought the integration of primitive survival skills to AT.
