By: Emma Manhire
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – This Spring 2025 semester, the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is announcing an exciting partnership. The adventure therapy group is partnering with the University’s Recreation and Wellness group. They’re calling it, “Experiencing Self and Others: UREC.”
The goal of this new partnership is to offer students at the U of A, a place to work on challenges which include: social anxiety, conflict resolution, and trust issues. In order to attend, students must complete a consultation appointment with CAPS, as well as a group screening.
Amy Ference, the CAPS mental health clinician and Experiencing Self & Others Adventure Therapy group facilitator, see’s the importance of therapy and what benefits can come from it.
“We’ve built a great program here at CAPS, available at no cost to students, that allows us to reduce some of the barriers to receiving therapy while providing our participants with real, tangible evidence of how it can feel to try new approaches to old problems.” Ference said. “This program is excellent for building resilience and self-efficacy, or for working on increasing a sense of agency or control over your life. Plus, it’s just a ton of fun! I love that we can offer high-quality therapy while also having a great time; it’s a rare session where people are clutching their stomachs from laughing so hard.”
During a backpacking trip out west, Ference was able to experience the positive effects from challenging yourself to do hard things.
“ I knew I wanted to incorporate some of the power of nature and of personal challenge into the therapeutic setting”, said Ference.
Group offerings for the Spring semester are held Monday’s from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and Thursday’s from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Students can expect to participate in mountain biking clinics, a climbing clinic, and a kayak rolling clinic.