Catching Up With CAT: Healing through Rock Climbing
This week’s Catching Up With CAT is brought to you by Laura!
Rock climbing has been growing in popularity around the world, especially during and after COVID. Maybe it’s because it’s such a great physical workout—building full-body strength, balance, and endurance. Or maybe it’s because it offers so many mental health benefits: reducing stress, building confidence, and developing problem-solving skills. For some, it’s the rush of adrenaline that comes from being high off the ground, or the deep sense of accomplishment after finally finishing that one route they’ve been working on for weeks. There’s even research showing that climbing can help rewire the brain in positive ways for people who have experienced trauma.
This past week reminded me that for us, as adventure therapists, one of the most powerful things about climbing is how it helps build relationships and trust.
We had a CAT Climbing Community program this past Tuesday night at a local climbing gym. Our CAT Climbing Community is a group of participants, alumni, staff and volunteers who love climbing and want to do more of it. It’s a completely free program and we provide all the gear and cover all the costs. It’s a way of keeping access to the sport open for lifelong enjoyment. Many of our staff started as participants and gained skills in the Adventure communities before coming on staff.
On Tuesday night, we climbed a lot, but we also had a lot of time in between climbs to chat. I caught up with a participant who just started high school and is experiencing a lot of academic stress. I chatted with another who’s part of a residential foster care program about playing on the football team. I met a new participant who said he wasn’t going to climb at all—and then fell in love with it. I talked with volunteers about their jobs, travels, pets, and relationships.
I’ve said many times that sometimes the therapy part of adventure therapy happens in those in-between moments: in car rides, at meals, or even between climbs. Thank you for supporting our work and helping young people in Chicago experience the healing and connection that come through rock climbing.
-Laura