Overview of Keith Tidball's work in the area of therapeutic hunting and angling for veterans. Presented at the Trout Unlimited Veterans Service Partnerships Train the Trainer event held at Gaston's Lodge in Arkansas, Sept 2019.

1. The Nature of the TherapyKeith G. Tidball, PhD
Cornell University

2. Aaron Reuben – Outside Magazine 2019

4. Doctors have been encouraging their patients to go
outside for millennia. Hippocrates called walking “man’s
best medicine.” Han dynasty physicians encouraged
outdoor “frolicking exercises” to ward off aging. And until
the mid-1940s, tuberculosis patients were sent to
mountain retreats in my home state to take in the “magic
airs.”
What’s happening now is different. It’s widespread,
systematic, and, at least in aspiration, evidence based.
Though boutique wilderness treatments for trauma and
some behavioral disorders have existed for years, the idea
that your primary-care physician, psychiatric nurse
practitioner, or cardiologist might prescribe a park before
a pill is quite new.

5. Prescribing against what? What’s the
diagnosis?
• PTS?
• Dislocation/disassociation
• Attention Deficit Disorder (Nature Deficit Disorder?)
• Depression?
• Dislocation/disassociation
Or something else??

6. 'We abuse land because we see it as a commodity
belonging to us.
When we see land as
a community to which we
belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect.’
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Aldo Leopold with fish and rod.
(Photo: Aldo Leopold Foundation)
Enter Aldo Leopold…

7. Leopold expands the
definition of “community” to
include not only humans, but
all of the other parts of the
Earth, as well: soils, waters,
plants, and animals, or what
Leopold called “the land.”

8. War abuses land, alters it, fractures
our relationship with it…
Lochnagar Crater formed in 1916 from explosives at the Battle of the Somme, France. Photo credit – Michaeil St. Maur Sheil/ Smithsonian Institute

9. War traumatizes some combatants,
inflicting grief, guilt, remorse… and later a
host of conditions that appear on the
trauma spectrum.
Wounded Sgt. Ken Kozakiewicz sobs as Cpl. Mike Tsangarakis peers into the bodybag holding their comrade, Pvt. Andy Alaniz during the Gulf War. (David C. Turnley photo/ The Buffalo News)

12. The problem “lies in the psychological shock American vets encounter at home,
rooted in the vast gulf between the essentially tribal nature of war and modern,
individualistic societies.”
“Contemporary culture’s failure to properly reintegrate those who suffer danger
and trauma —not just soldiers but emergency personnel and others—is not a
matter of misapplied funding or mental health care, but of modernity’s
inability to offer a communal bond that matches the
veterans’ intense experiences.”
“Humans don’t mind hardship as much as they mind feeling useless, and modern
society has perfected the art of making people not feel necessary.”
“Tells what my family sees
and does at its week-end refuge
from too much modernity : the Shack.”
Aldo Leopold

13. A community to which we belong
com·mu·ni·ty
/kəˈmyo͞onədē/
noun
1.a group of people or other organisms living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in
common. "the hunting community“
2.a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
"the sense of community that common tasks and purpose can provide“
A community implies a sense of belonging, connection, communication and interaction. Attachment
to a community is known to confer benefits and improve well-being. Belonging to community is
viewed almost a necessity to have a meaningful life.

14. A community to which we belong
Bi-directional relationship – the community to which we belong welcomes us…

15. Do I belong? Am I accepted?
“Disconnected Soldier” - Leslie Herman, illustrator Marianne Seregi, art director The Washington Post, client
https://www.commarts.com/project/22348/disconnected-soldier
Do I belong?
Where do I belong?

16. If I could,
you know I would,
if I could,
I would…
Let it go
This desperation
Dislocation
Separation
Condemnation
Revelation
in temptation
Isolation
Desolation
Let it go
And so fade
away…. U2 -- Songwriters: Adam Clayton / Dave Evans / Larry Mullen / Paul Hewson
U2
“Bad”

17. Painting by Lindele Msweli Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Paper 39 2/5 × 27 3/5 in 100 × 70 cm
“I retired in May of this year. Since then I have had a bit of a time
getting adjusted to being a civilian. I have missed the camaraderie of
my fellow Marines, the guys I could trust for advice and guidance. I
have felt somewhat lost since getting out of the Corps. Attending the
an event with fellow service members gave me back some of the
camaraderie I have missed. It also gave me the excitement and
adrenaline rush that came with being a Marine. I felt comfortable with
my guides - and was able to share some of the baggage I have been
carrying around from the past few years. It was a great experience,
one I will never forget. Semper Fi
-S. Taylor, USMC
Purple Heart Recipient

18. What did we do?
• Theme generation Focus
Group at Fort Drum
• 52 semi-structured
interviews conducted over
11 unique hunting outings
• Field Observations
• Coding and content analysis
• Refine and apply RERAS
model
Mixed Methods

19. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)

20. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
Images and concepts from C3M exercise
wherein participants report concepts and
values such as:
reward
personal growth
maturity
patience
safety

21. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
A C3M image with descriptors
focusing on notions of togetherness,
being with someone in the outdoors,
defeating lonliness.

22. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
Multiple concepts are represented on
this C3M including peace and solitude,
goal orientation, and stewardship.

23. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
In addition to values of love, respect, and
connection to nature, this C3M cluster
indicates a strong feminine notion of
interrelation, illustrating that the values of
hunting (and fishing) as therapeutic outdoor
recreation need not be limited to males.

24. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
This is C3M image and
interpretation point to one of
the more recurring themes in
hunting as therapeutic outdoor
recreation, a complex notion of
family, feeling need and part of
a group, and the ability to
mentor junior members of the
group.

25. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
An example of the importance of
problem-solving and mastery in
therapeutic outdoor recreational
activities for veterans.

26. This C3M clearly emphasizes notions of re-
connectedness, and the relationship
between interaction with animals and
outdoor settings.
Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)

27. Focus Group Theme Generation – Collaborative Cut & Paste Concept Mapping (C3M)
Another iteration of the
importance of sanctuary, quiet
relaxation, and simplicity

28. Results of C3M theme generation mapped on to Kellert’s indicators of biophilia

30. 52 Interviews conducted and recorded, transcribed, and now being coded.

31. Preliminary Results
Interview data suggest:
• Themes generated via Focus Group C3M exercise at Fort Drum valid and are
recurrent
• Of the items in the “Therapeutic Hunting & Fishing Typology of Values of
Nature”
• Aesthetic, humanistic, and moralistic are most frequently occurring values
• Dominionistic and Utilitarian follow closely
• Negativistic is the least frequently referenced
• Additional concepts emerging such as:
• Thrill and excitement
• A reason/motivation to get out/ get outside
• Regeneration of unit cohesion, comradery, and esprit de corps

32. Passive
Active
Intentionally
Designed
Therapeutic Hunting
Experiences
Stress Reduction
Theory
Biophilia/
Therapeutic Hunting
& Angling Typology of
Values
Attention Restoration
Theory
Reconnection
Empowerment
Restoration
Achievement
Resilience
Social Support
IdentityStress Reduction Self - Systems
RERARS* model for identifying
outcomes of participation in
Intentionally Designed Therapeutic
Hunting and Angling Experiences.
Adapted from Ewert and Voight's
(2012) "Intentionally Designed
Experiences and Human Health
Outcome Model.”
*perceived gains in levels of reconnection, empowerment, restoration,
achievement, and social support

33. Cosmos
Natural Community
Traditional Community
Neighborhood
Unit
Family
Personal
Reconnection – where to start?
Minimal
Threat
Moderate
Threat
Maximum
Threat
A
L
I
E
N
A
T
I
O
N
T
O
R
E
C
O
N
N
E
C
T
I
O
N
C
O
N
T
I
N
U
U
M

34. In conclusion, this ongoing work continues to suggest strongly that
Intentionally Designed Therapeutic Hunting and Angling Experiences offer
veterans (1) a communal bond that matches the veterans’ intense
experiences while (2) allowing veterans to expand themselves through
immersion in and subsequent acknowledgement of membership, of being
welcomed back in, to the community as Leopold describes. This
homecoming is the beginning of a path of reconnection and restoration,
from the outside in, for veterans’ community, their families, and for
themselves .
Thank you!

35. Parting shot – begin with the end in mind.
We are engaged in more than therapy via recreation.
We are engaged in building health through reconnection and conservation.
To conserve, protect and restore North America’s
coldwater fisheries and their watersheds
In partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Fisheries, California Conservation Corps (CCC) Veterans Corps fields prior service
conservationist volunteers.

36. Thank you!