The Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Center (OBH Center) was founded in 2015 with the mission to “advance the field of adventure therapy and outdoor behavioral healthcare through the development of best practices, effective treatments, and evidenced-based research” (OBH Center, 2024).
The OBH Center advanced this mission by promoting a broad continuum of research and by furthering accreditation and risk management in wilderness and adventure therapy programs. The OBH Center’s support of research included collaboration with “seven active research scientists, affiliate researchers, graduate students, and community partners,” resulting in the publication of “over 200 research studies, leading to best practices, ethical guidelines, and insurance reimbursement in wilderness and adventure therapy” (OBH Center, 2024).
Since its founding, The OBH Center has been led by Dr. Michael Gass and Dr. Anita Tucker, both faculty at the University of New Hampshire, and as of May 2024, the leadership has formally transitioned to Dr. Anita Tucker and Dr. Christine Norton, faculty member in the School of Social Work at Texas State University. The OBH Center engaged Point b(e) Strategies to support its leadership in developing an innovative and equity-centered strategic framework that will create the conditions for success over the next three years. This strategic planning process launched in December of 2023, several months before the leadership transition was complete, and as a result, the process was informed by Dr. Gass, Dr. Tucker and Dr. Norton, as well as by a core group of practitioners, researchers and stakeholders who have been engaged in the work of the OBH Center and who were equipped to inform its future direction.
Over the course of facilitated sessions, the outgoing and incoming leadership of the OBH Center worked alongside task force members to identify a new name for its efforts and decided on the following: The Outdoor Research Collaborative for Health, Well-Being and Experiential Engagement (Outdoor Research Collaborative). The shift from “Center” to “Collaborative” aligns with the learnings collected from stakeholder engagement and facilitated sessions and the interest in convening researchers, practitioners and others as equal contributors to knowledge development and mobilization that advances the field of outdoor health. The naming of “Health, Well-Being and Experiential Engagement” as part of the Outdoor Research Collaborative’s name also makes explicit the areas the ORC seeks to advance to improve the quality of life for children, adolescents and adults.