Will black is a wilderness guide who takes young men out in to the mountains of Alberta, as a treatment for addiction. He works for a treatment camp called Shunda Creek, which is a 90 day government-funded program for men aged 18-25. The program uses curated experiences combined with intention to carve new pathways in the brain.
Will has a wealth of experience in activating change mechanisms in his clients, through challenge in the wilderness.
Topics covered in this podcast:
- The value of wildnerness therapy – the original classroom
- Experience as a doorway to embodiment
- Trauma locked in to the body
- What does an empowering experience do in the body
- Addiction: Choice vs. Disease – Dr. Kevin McCauley
- Addiction and reward system dysregulation
- Serotonin and the benefits of recovering from something together.
- Adventure Thresholds: How to design an experience to create optimal change through perceived risk.
- Aligning attention with intention to match consciousness with the unconsciousness
- The 3 brains: Reptillian, Mamillian, Human
- Stigma and the shaming of addicton
- Mindfulness and the key to rewiring the mind