Uma Blanchard: Rehabilitating or Enhancing Youth?  Framing Developmental Experience in Urban Adventure Therapy

The study examines an emerging modality of urban youth development – Adventure Therapy (AT). Through ethnographic investigation, this project will track the practices of an urban adventure therapy organization serving youth who are ages 12-24 and are, generally, low income, Black and Latino/a and from the South and West Sides of Chicago. This organization, “Directions,” and the modality more broadly, promise the development of critical social and leadership skills which will serve as protective factors and expand possibilities. Adding to studies of Out-of-School-Time (OST) activities and other forms of youth development, this study will explore the nuance inherent in the effect of such a relational practice. By comparing the use of the same modality on groups of students who either arrive as part of a rehabilitative program or a leadership-oriented program, this study examines the implications of categorizing and tracking young people. If different forms of psychological capital (internal resources, skills and dispositions) are being developed for distinct life trajectories, existing forms of social inequality may be reproduced in the process. Insights from this study could easily apply to other forms of holistic or whole child youth development.