Climbing Programs
Climbing Programs
British Columbia
Program Information as of January 2024
As of January 2024 we are focused primarily on keeping our ‘Therapeutic Climbing Program’ going, and we hope to provide this throughout the year. Our next round begins in February 2024, and we are excited to get started!
We are also launching a pilot program, a Peer Mentor program. This is designed for those climbers who have attended the Therapeutic Climbing Program and would like to continue progressing their climbing goals and to stay connected to our community. We are excited to be able to pair these climbers with our incredible volunteers.
We climb at the Hive Heights in Vancouver, and in 2024 we will once again start climbing at the UBC Aviary, and we are grateful for both of these facilities for the support and collaboration.
Finally, we plan to climb outside again this year, with the ongoing support from Canada West Mountain School, including at the Arc’teryx Climbing Academy, with Spinal Cord Injury BC.
What can you expect from our team?
We operate these programs beyond our regular careers, primarily as volunteers, but our team is efficient and hard working, and we are aligned with a common set of outcomes. Together with some incredibly talented program volunteers and our partnering climbing facility partners, we are able to provide innovative and safe programs.
Therapeutic Climbing Program
We’ve designed this program to assist your rehabilitation journey. It is facilitated by an Occupational Therapist, a climbing expert, and a dedicated team of amazing volunteers.
General research suggests the potential benefits of therapeutic climbing, which includes mental health benefits, physical health benefits and social/ emotional benefits.
Due to the growing literature around mindfulness and its use in reducing stress, depression and improving overall quality of life, our team incorporates mindfulness techniques into our climbing sessions. This includes mindfulness meditation during warm-up as well as body awareness and mindful breathing techniques while climbing.
The purpose of this therapeutic program is to use concepts of mindfulness and physical activity to promote mental, cognitive, emotional and physical functioning as per your self-identified goals. We collaborate with you, in a strengths based approach, towards achieving self-identified goals.
Peer Mentor Climbing Program
Feedback from clients of the Therapeutic Climbing Program was that they wanted to continue progressing their skills, gaining confidence, and also wanted to continue being a member of the climbing community. This program is designed to address this important feedback.
The Peer Mentor Climbing Program pairs the clients with our volunteers, allowing them to connect and climb when it’s most convenient for them.
This program hopes to resolve a number of issues we were struggling to resolve, most notably not having organizational capacity (time and finances) to offer enough climbing days to support climbers to continue progressing in their personal and climbing goals, and in keeping our volunteers engaged and actively involved throughout the year.
Get in Touch
Please connect with us if you are interested in either climbing, volunteering, collaborating, or to support us in some way.