2024 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Sometimes the best outcome is for a participant to go home before the program is over. Setting your program and its participants up for success means preparing to support both attendance and early departure. This presentation will look at strategies and tools to reduce unnecessary departures as well as identify and ease necessary departures. This will include creating clear and consistent program definitions, defining the boundaries of the program and staff skill-set, supportive and inclusive program design, and defining the pathways that lead to a participant staying or going home. We will share experiences, look at example tools and templates, and review case studies for a variety of situations and participant types. [Updated and revised version of presentation given in 2022]

Risk Management begins long before your staff are on site, the participants arrive and your boats hit the water. This workshop will discover and dissect your admissions/intake process as your first line risk management tool. Learn the necessary steps to build from scratch and audit your admissions process. We will aim to boost efficiency, increase access and provide a welcoming and safe intake experience for your participants. We will discuss what key elements to include, the ideal flow of your system and the tools needed to bolster your admissions process, while still ensuring a personal touch for your clients as they prepare for your program. This is a great workshop for new or small programs still building their systems, or for those who know their intake process needs improvement. We will work through the importance of inclusive and accessible approaches to intake, and discuss some of the toughest circumstances when it comes to approving applicants to your program. If designed intentionally, your admissions program can open more doors to the outdoors!

Over the past season, we've embraced technology to enhance our programs, introducing a digital adaptive medical form that adjusts questions based on user responses, integrates doctor approvals, and converts submissions into both an office and field form. We've also developed an open-source AI bot to efficiently organize program groups based on criteria like cabin assignments, age breakdown, and student rooming preferences. Currently, we're developing another AI engine to review medical and participant documents against our Essential Eligibility Criteria (EEC), aiming to streamline processes and improve accuracy.

This workshop will take an in depth look at how two small outdoor education programs have navigated new partnerships to support the development of program medical protocols, refine the health intake process, and obtain medical advice when concerns arise during programming. We will also explore an advising physician’s perspective on considerations for connecting and interfacing with a program medical advisor. Small program leaders often work in isolation, and may find themselves addressing all aspects of the health intake and support process on their own, despite little formal medical training. Where larger organizations may have personnel who are solely dedicated to participant health, smaller ones may have only one or two individuals wearing many hats, and this aspect of the program may compete with other responsibilities. This workshop will generate ideas for potential advising models, assist in developing resources, and help participants take steps to de-silo this important component of outdoor programming. This workshop is facilitated by two independent school outdoor program directors and the medical advisor for several programs (both small and large). Time will be allocated to address questions as well as learn from workshop attendees.

Since 2019, there have been regular WRMC presentations and pre-conference sessions devoted to the principles of Safety II (or Safety Differently), but until now, we have talked more about the theory than the practice. This session will provide a very brief introduction to the concepts behind Safety II, but primarily focus on practical applications and lessons learned by programs that are implementing a Safety II approach. We will use case studies, practical examples of success stories, share pitfalls to avoid, and offer action steps for participants to apply Safety II concepts to their own organization. Participants will also be invited to recognize how they may already have many components of a Safety II approach existing within their current policies, practices, or organizational culture - even if they aren't calling it that (yet).

How do journalists and the public know the difference between good programs and a harmful one? Do you understand what the term “troubled teen industry” means and where your program is positioned in the outdoor programming marketplace? Negative press in any outdoor sector impacts all outdoor programs. As the adventure therapy field and therapeutic programs navigate public criticism around ethical care, this session covers understanding and working with a journalist’s perspective and strategies for proactive PR. The session aims to give practitioners tools and strategies to help clarify programmatic purpose, common or inherent practices, who regulates programs, and how standards are determined. Join Sarah Hoye, a past recipient of the prestigious Peabody Award for her work in journalism, and Denise Mitten, Ph.D., a thought leader and ethicist specializing in mental health counseling, in this thought-provoking session. Participants will come away with a deeper understanding of how to work with media, a positive press release about their program, and the importance of and how to write ethical standards applicable to their programmatic context.

This session will focus on how to prepare your organization to receive and investigate reports of unwelcome behaviors. We will identify the increased harm and impact of unwelcome behaviors as they become more egregious, identify the best practices for taking a report and what an investigation should entail.

In the realm of risk management, our approach to a given situation varies depending on whether we are vacationing with friends, operating within the confines of our professional roles, or collaborating with a professional partner. In the context of outdoor or experiential education, risk can be particularly valuable as it presents opportunities for students to challenge their assumptions and develop essential problem-solving skills. It is through navigating the inherent risks in the learning process that students foster resilience, creativity, and adaptability. These varying perspectives illuminate the complex dynamics and trade-offs inherent in effective risk management. This workshop explores how we define a shared organizational understanding of risk tolerance as it pertains to student learning and the student experience, and offers tools for how we communicate a unified vision of risk appetite to our staff. We will share a risk continuum that can be applied personally and organizationally, and offer a framework for undertaking an organizational assessment of acceptable risk. Additionally, we will provide tools to support and train staff in upholding organizational risk thresholds that may differ greatly from their own personal risk tolerance.