2024 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

How much choice do participants have in your program? Have marketing campaigns seduced them, or are they required to participate by school or parents? Or, perhaps they “choose” to go along because they want to belong in a group. Most instructors know how to offer choice; however, can they teach choice-making skills? Outdoor programs can offer opportunities for participants to make conscious choices and develop an ethic of care through intentional learning, reflection, practice, and engagement with others, which helps to make programs safer and allows participants to leave the program with more skills to travel safely outdoors. With accelerated environmental degradation and political polarization, deepening our understanding of care, on the individual and collective levels seems crucial. Group cohesion and instructor expectations impact choice and one’s sense of belonging—both of which are influenced by factors such as culture and life experiences. Instructors can help participants understand these dynamic and relational processes and develop reflective moral reasoning to increase their understanding of ethical implications of their choices (the average human makes up to 35,000 choices daily). Session participants explore ethical and practical considerations around choice and belonging and outline practical considerations to create safer feeling, equitable, and inclusive environments for people to develop choice-making skills where they can consider and understand the consequences of their choices on themselves, others, and the natural environment—all of which improve the safety outcomes of program experiences.