Austin comes from a background of Gap Year adventure and experiential learning programs. After years of working with outdoor educational programs for young adults all over the world, she recognised an increasing number of adolescents suffering from mental health challenges and the growing need for increased mental health support in programs. In addition, Gen Z students have demonstrated a craving for learning about emotional intelligence, social justice, identity, and empathy with an acute attention to their mental and emotional wellbeing like never before.

With the growing need of mental health support in students she went into a research deep dive and it became clear that there were no programs holding the space between Gap Year and full on Adventure Therapy, which can be overwhelming and with a price tag out of reach for most families.

After several white board concept meetings, we found that most families had already spent intentional time finding a therapist they trusted. Instead of replacing this resource, we created a psychoeducational adventure program that partners virtually with student’s own therapists creating a forward-thinking, holistic alternative to traditional adventure therapy programming tailor made for the post- pandemic Gen Z student.