Therapeutic climbing in experiential education & psychotherapy

Goal of the course

Qualifying the participants to plan and conduct programs using climbing as a psychological or pedagogical tool, including the choice of exercises and the verbal interactions before, during and after the action.

Dates & Duration

The course takes 5 days starting on the first day at 10 am and finishing on the fifth at 3.30pm.
21st to 25th of July 2025
20th to 24th of July 2026

Location

Austria | Climbing gym in the town of „Bad Ischl“ | Address: Engleitenstraße 4, 4820 Bad Ischl, Austria

to get some impression of the landscape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uark9OXtB_w 

Contents of the 5 day program

In general we alternate between theory and practical parts to keep the program vivid and let you experience the theoretical issues. That´s what we will present you in detail:

1. The core of the course are practical exercises which we present, try out and discuss afterwards (possible changes according to goals and clients, where or how can this exercise be applied best). These exercises comprise bouldering and rope climbing.

2. Identification and discussion of “experiential qualities”. We try to identify all different aspects that climbing sets in motion in people´s minds like: trust, fear, self esteem, self efficacy, planning (training of the executive functions), borders (to deal with them, to go over them sometimes), performance (who much pressure do I put on me in climbing concerning my level of performance), body (e.g. in the sense of relaxation and tension, where do I feel emotions in my body, breathing), social aspects, attention, enjoying/happiness and some more. For these aspects we try to find settings, which trigger them in a person or in a group.

3. Discussion of different mental disorders like depression, anxiety disorder, OCD, ADHD, personality disorders e.g. BPD in there relation to climbing: what can we expect when people with this disorders climb with us and who can we use climbing (the direct experience but also social factors) to influence these disorders through climbing.

4. We identify typical settings in the field of experiential education, mostly for the work with social organizations but also in the field of profit oriented firms (teams).

5. Level of verbal interventions: we tried to put all aspects of verbal interventions on a scale and discuss these in relation to people´s professions because we have participants from various fields (like social workers, doctors/m.d., psychologists, experiential educators, climbing teachers and so on) and needs of the clients or situation of a therapeutic group.

7. Self reflection about us a climbers, how do we deal with fear, pressure, social aspects, trust and so forth as a basis for our work with clients.

8. If the course lasts for five days: on the last day of our course the participants form groups of 3 to 4 people and plan a future project in the field of climbing therapy, sometimes these are just virtual but sometimes they become real, respectively participants are right in the process of a real project.

Who can attend the training programs?

Since our beginnings in 2003 we have good experiences with a broad variety of participants coming from different professions: psychologists, psychotherapists, doctors, teachers, outdoor trainers, social workers, physical/occupational therapists or nurses working in psychiatry or climbing instructors working in the field. If you have any doubts, wether your background is sufficient or if the program fits your needs contact us.

Concerning your climbing skills: it is highly recommended that you have already experienced climbing and are able to climb and belay toprope and lead. But it´s not required that you have a professional training as a climbing instructor (in the long run we recommend to attend such a training).

For further information please don´t hesitate to contact us via office@climbingtherapy.com or the contact form!

Course fee

€ 832,- (included the entrance fee for the gym, 5 days)