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Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors


May 5, 2020

Dr. Scott Bandoroff is the founder of Peak Experience Training, which provides the Clinical First Responder Certification for those working in the field.  Scott has worked in the field since the 1980s.  Scott was a field guide at SUWS, where he researched family dynamics while working on his doctoral dissertation. Scott shares his thirty-year journey from being a field guide to a clinician and developing the Clinical First Responder. He shares his concerns about the future and the challenges of COVID-19.

Bio from the Peak Experience website:

Scott Bandoroff, Ph.D. is a Psychologist with over 30 years of experience in the use of adventure therapy for the treatment of teens and families. In addition to his clinical work in his private practice in Ashland, Oregon, he has served as an internship training director, clinical supervisor, consultant and trainer.

Scott began his career as a wilderness treatment program field staff where he became interested in integrating family interventions into wilderness therapy. This served as a catalyst for his dissertation research where he developed a wilderness family therapy program in 1990. He went on to publish and present extensively, and is a recognized authority in the field, learning to the co-development of the CFR training with several other recognized experts in the field.

Scott currently provides consultation and training to schools, mental health agencies, juvenile justice departments, residential treatment centers, and wilderness treatment programs. He also offers Family Adventures for families interested in an intensive wilderness therapy experience. Scott continues to enjoy backpacking, skiing, and outdoor pursuits of all kinds. He recently did a multi-day river trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho and took his 12-year-old son backpacking.