Wilderness Experiential Therapy for Addiction – with Will Black – Episode #13

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