FEATURE MENTAL HEALTH
Adventure-based experiences for young people during the pandemic
Having planned a new outdoor therapy group programme for adolescents with mental health difficulties , the programme had to be amended when the pandemic struck . Clare Gardiner looks at what happened next
At the start of 2020 , the South Eastern
Health and Social Care Trust ( SEHSCT ) health and wellbeing promotion department commissioned the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust child and adolescent mental health service ( CAMHS ) and the YMCA to facilitate an adventure therapy programme .
The programme was aimed at young people who were open to CAMHS , aged 14 to 18 , and who were unable to access educational opportunities due to mental ill health .
Often , the young people found it difficult to engage in the traditional clinic-based CAMHS treatments and were labelled as ‘ school refusers ’. The aim of the programme was to provide the group members with an opportunity to engage in new adventure-based experiences with a peer group , while challenging their mental health difficulties and established behaviour patterns .
The programme was due to commence in April 2020 , however due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions , the group was postponed .
Keeping service delivery going In May 2020 , it was agreed by the stakeholders that the group would be re-designed to allow some form of service delivery within the boundaries of government guidance in relation to social distancing .
The group size was reduced from between eight and 10 young people to four to six . The name of the group was changed to ‘ The Outdoor Therapy Group ’, in order to reflect the fact that that many of the previously-planned outdoor activities , for example
© GettyImages / stock _ colors kayaking , bouldering and hiking , would not be available , due to the COVID-19 restrictions and the lack of public toileting facilities at the time .
Pre-group assessment Before the group , an ‘ outdoor ’ home visit – for example in the family garden – was completed jointly by the occupational therapist and YMCA youth worker . This pre-group visit provided the opportunity to introduce the young people to the group facilitators , with the goal of promoting engagement and reducing anxiety .
Each young person was assessed during the garden visit using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure ( COPM ) ( Law et al 2000 ) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire ( SDQ ) ( Goodman 1998 ), and they each identified a number of functional goals that they wished to achieve over the course of the therapy group .
Group design and activities The weekly group was co-designed by the young people and the group facilitators , and the young people came up with ideas for what activities they would like to engage in , on a week-by-week basis .
As Northern Ireland emerged from lockdown more activities became available and session times could be expanded .
38 OTnews January 2021