Outward Bound Discovery 101

To help you all better understand the program I am working for, I would like to share some of the basic information and terms I learned during NST. It will help things make a lot more sense, I think, and will help me so that I can talk about them later without feeling as if I must be confusing people. If this seems a little bit “drier” than some of my other entries, it is because I was trying to be efficient. Not all of the information here is necessarily applicable to Outward Bound in its entirety, as it is a nation-wide (world-wide, actually) program, and I can only speak of what I know. So here are the basics of Outward Bound Discovery, which is made up of the four bases in Alabama and Florida, where I will be working.

Course Tools

In OB Discovery there is a fairly well-set curriculum that we present to our students. This curriculum is divided in to two parts: Outdoor Education and Life Skills Management. Outdoor Education is pretty simple – all the “hard” skills such as setting up a tent, paddling a canoe, tying a trucker’s hitch, etc fall into this category. Life Skills Management deals to a large degree with assertive communication, decision making, and positive leadership skills.

To help students practice assertive communication, a specific set of “course tools” has been designed for them to use. During NST, we again learned about these course tools through experience. The first day at camp, one member of our team (“S”) happened to trip over another member of our team (“M”) while M was putting away the dishes. S did not apologize, and M got upset. Our trainers immediately called a “circle-up!” and introduced to the group the oft-used CFR.

C- Concern
F – Feeling
R – Assertive Request to the person or group

This is an extremely structured way for one person to express frustration to another person or group of people without the concern exploding into an all-out attack. The person practicing the CFR is only allowed to address the three questions above, with the stipulation that the concern and feeling be authentic and un-offensive, and the request be reasonable. When they are finished speaking, the person or people being addressed are asked: “Can you honor that request? Flag in if you can honor it.”

“Flagging in” to a circle-up means that you stick your fist into the center of the circle. It is just like raising your hand, except that in OB we go camping a lot, and we do not like to raise hands because everyone’s armpits usually smell bad. So we flag in.

Other assertive communication tools used during a program include:

WOMPs: Used when two people are simultaneously frustrated with each other.

W – What’s up?
O – Ownership. What can you “own” or take responsibility for in this situation?
M – Walk a Mile in their Moccasins. How would you feel if you were the other person?
P – Plan. What are you going to do in the future?

This is such an amazing tool because it precludes any sort of blaming or fighting. It gets right to the point and addresses the feelings of both parties without dramatizing either.

Step-Backs: A student can choose to take a “step-back” for any reason if they feel as though they cannot participate with the group at a certain time. If they miss out on an activity that includes work, such as running or setting up camp, that student must do some sort of “restore” to make up the work they missed. They are formally re-introduced to the group at the end of their step-back.

Separations: A student is separated from the group by an instructor if they are not meeting expectations and/or are being disruptive to the group. This is not a student choice. A lot of importance is put on the group, and being a member of the group – thus, a separation is a consequence, not a reward. Again, a student is formally re-introduced to the group, stating why they were separated, what they need from the group, and what their plan is to move forward. The group is then given the chance to say what they need from the separated student. Again -- assertive, assertive assertive.

Choice Theory: Ben basically described this to me when giving me behavior management techniques for substitute teaching last winter. When we went over this during NST, I said “hm, now that looks, familiar.” It is a very simple way of managing behaviors, and here it is:

What do you want?
What are you doing?
Is what you are doing getting you what you want?

Example:
I am tired and hungry and I want to go to bed.
I am whining and complaining instead of setting up camp.
Is this getting me any closer to going to bed?
No.
How can I change what I am doing to get what I want?
I can help set up camp so we can cook dinner faster, so that everyone can eat and go to bed.

Conveniently for instructors, the way a student can get what they want is generally to do what they are supposed to be doing.

We also use techniques called Reality Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. These are a bit more involved, and I know I will understand them more once I used them with students, so I’ll leave these for another day.

Contracts: Throughout course, students write contracts with instructors to further their goals for course, or to correct negative behavior. Contracts can be positive (to continue doing something such as showing positive leadership within the group), or negative (to find positive alternatives to negative behavior, such as using course tools to communicate assertively instead of yelling). In STEP courses, contracts are used to show the judge responsible for each student’s case that she/he is making progress. In non-adjudicated courses, contracts are simply a way to help students document their progress and give them SMART goals to work toward.

S-Specific
M-Measurable
A-Attainable
R-Realistic
T-Timely

…did I mention OB uses a unbelievable amount of acronyms? Don’t worry, there are more…

STEP, FINS, and Intercept

Many people have been asking me: “how can adolescents complete courses during the school year?” The answer is…

*STEP and FINS students receive a full semester’s coursework for one class for completing and OB course.
*Many students, especially those in STEP, have already dropped out of school for various reasons.
*Those FINS students that have not dropped out and choose to complete a course during the school year somehow get permission from their school/teachers to take time off for the course and then come back to school. I do not know exactly how this works, but I do know it is possible. Also, some courses are run during the summer months.
*Many Intercept courses are run for 18-20 year-olds, who have finished or dropped out of high school and are not in college. I don’t know what happens for 14-17 yr old Intercept courses.

Now the next question is: What are STEP, FINS and Intercept?

STEP stands for Short Term Expeditionary Program. This is a program run by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ). Not all teens who are arrested and go through the FDJJ come to this program – only those who are arrested of non-violent crimes and sentenced to it by a judge. The program is 30 days longs, and the students must graduate the course or enter into the juvenile detention system. If they try to “run away” while on course, it is a felony and they go to jail. Students generally spend about 5 days on base, 7-8 days on the river, 3 days on solo, 7-8 more days on the river, and 5 more days on base, where they complete their final 7.6 mile run and graduate. All STEP courses are run from the Yulee, Florida base.

FINS stands for Families in Need of Services. This is another program run by the FDJJ, although it is a prevention program, targeted at teens who are at risk of becoming offenders for one reason or another – sometimes drugs, fighting, truancy, etc, etc. The major differences between FINS and STEP are: FINS youth are not adjudicated, they must apply to be in the program (or a parent must apply for them), and their course is 20 days long with 10 days of follow-up (instructors make scheduled home visits to work with the students and their families about transferring the learning that happened on course to their home environment.) The tuition is paid by the State of Florida.

Intercept: This is a nation-wide OB Outreach program that OB Discovery participates in. Most importantly, it is not an acronym! Like FINS, it is targeted at at-risk youth. Unlike FINS, it is not paid for by the State of Florida, so each student must pay their own tuition, which is usually about $6,000. As you can imagine, the demographics change pretty drastically from one type of course to the next. Intercept also has courses for youth ages 14-17 as well as for young adults ages 18-20. (FINS and STEP are all for youth ages 13-17.)

Next question: Where do you actually live?

At the moment I kind of live everywhere. This is a nice way of saying I am homeless with various places to stay. I am a “floater” like many OB employees. Each base has a number of cabins available for staff to stay in, as well as space for pitching tent. (I now own the best tent EVER – thanks dad and Connie for giving me the family Eureka!) I am re-imbursed for gas money when transporting myself from base to base, which is nice, and as an intern, I also get a bit of money for food. Honestly, what is this concept of earning money all about?

The OB Discovery Bases are:

*Five Rivers Base in Fairhope, AL (where we had NST) – STEP, FINS, and Intercept
*STEP Base in Yulee, FL - STEP only
*Scottsmoor, FL Base (where I am now!) – FINS and Intercept
*Key Largo, FL Base – FINS and Intercept (I have not been to this base yet – they do Everglades trips during the winter months)

I hope that helps clear up a bit of the mystery bubble as to what I've been doing lately. It really is a bit like a bubble - it is it's own little world, and it is difficult to explain one piece without explaining it all. A bit like Vanuatu - I feel as if I can talk about it all day, but the only way to truly understand it is to live in it. I can explain all of the pieces, but on top of all of those pieces are all the people, and the culture, and the little things that make it unique. But I will do my best, and I hope this has been a good start!