Journal Manuscripts Submission Procedure
Manuscripts Submission Procedure
The purpose of the journal is conceived as a forum for exchanging research, knowledge, information, wisdom, opinions, ideas, summaries, reflections, and graphics on the endeavor of outdoor therapeutic programming. As an extension of the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping, the journal focuses on the model initially described by Campbell Loughmiller in Wilderness Road (Hogg Foundation, 1965) and further promulgated by Nicholas Hobbs (The Troubled and Troubling Child, 1987). Its purpose seeks to explore and explain the experiences of youth and caregivers in this therapeutic manner of transforming lives for the better.
Often called wilderness programs, additional terms that characterize the specialized type of treatment used in wilderness camping include outdoor behavioral healthcare, wilderness therapy, adventure therapy, therapeutic adventure, wilderness family therapy, adventure family therapy, wilderness counseling, and outdoor therapeutic programming, among others. These forms of short and long term intervention typically offer counseling and education to young people having difficulties in appropriate development. Located in challenging wilderness environments, the schools have long and short-term residencies, providing a variety of services that centers on the use of the natural environment for establishing therapeutic community and alliance. Therapeutic wilderness camps do not use military style, boot camp procedures for forcing compliance but instead focus on longstanding, research-based counseling and educational methods for promoting positive change and effective adaptation.
Experiential education describes the preferred instructional modality and participants can earn credit toward high school graduation. Wilderness education is an essential part of therapeutic wilderness camping where students learn a variety of skills from survival to whitewater rafting and mountain climbing. Counseling approaches tend to utilize cognitive-behavioral approaches along with humanistic and existential methodologies with overtones of psychoanalytic and expressive therapies. Psychiatric medication is used adjunctively when necessary. Some programs operate under a specific spiritual orientation and many encourage participation in religious activity. Therapeutic wilderness camping is for those with milder and more serious problems, depending on the program, and is even widely applied to people of all levels of age and need.
As the field continues to grow, a body of literature is documenting the veracity of teaching and counseling in the natural environment. NATWC invites readers to submit manuscripts for consideration of publication. Articles should deal with research (qualitative and quantitative), current issues, and trends in the field. Book reviews are encouraged and opinions/letters to the editor are welcomed. Notices about upcoming events and other noteworthy comments can be contributed. Writings and reflections by students and teacher-counselors are gladly accepted.
The Journal of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping is published by the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping. Copies of the journal are included with membership in the Association. Membership inquiries can be directed to our website, www.natwc.org.
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically as an attachment to email sent to cockerha@etsu.edu . Use a recent version of MS Word. For questions of format, refer to the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Length of manuscripts varies. Copyright is reserved with the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping with all rights reserved. Permission for copies is obtained from the Editorial Review Board of NATWC.
Send manuscripts to: cockerha@etsu.edu
All Written Correspondence:
Steve Cockerham
HDAL Box 70548
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, TN 37614
Office: 423/439-4189