WNMU Offers Outdoor Behavioral Health Courses for Social Workers
Western New Mexico University is one of just a couple institutions in the nation and the only university in the state offering formal outdoor behavioral health and wilderness therapy training for social workers and other helping professionals. With two outdoor behavioral health classes fully developed, WNMU is ahead of the curve in this emerging field. It will add an adventure therapy class in spring 2019, and two additional courses — Individual and Group Skills I & II — will open for enrollment soon. The classes provide students and current practitioners a foundation in outdoor behavioral health, which is defined as the prescriptive use of wilderness experiences by a licensed mental health professional, while also offering different resources for social work students to achieve their goal of become professionals. “This is a field that’s been effective for years, and it’s beginning to be considered by third party reimbursement — private insurance and Medicaid...