Xcursion – A World of Adventures Outside The Classroom

Xcursion Blog Has Moved To The New Challenge, Experience, Growth Site

David Gregory Uncategorized February 19, 2017February 23, 2017 0 Comment

Hi Everyone,

Just letting you know the Xcursion blog has a new home.

All my previous articles have moved to the new Challenge, Experience, Growth site, with a greater focus on Experiential Education & Risk Management.

To go directly to the latest article click now: http://www.challengeexperiencegrowth.com/blog

Please join me there for an ongoing exploration of how to provide the best education and opportunities for the kids you teach.

You can also check out Xcursion and all it’s other exciting happenings @:

http://www.xcursion.com.au/

@xcursionsoft on Twitter

@xcursionadventures on Instagram

Thanks for your continued support and rest assured you will receive a lot more articles about Experiential education and blog about the challenges, fun and adventures of learning outside the classroom.

Best wishes,

David

Attitudes Towards Risk

David Gregory Risk Management February 5, 2017February 3, 2017awareness, danger, experiential education, hazards, incidents, preparation, risk assessment, Risk Management, risks, team work 0 Comment

Attitudes towards risk varies dramatically in individuals. Some people love extreme sports, others don’t even like to change the channel on the TV. Whilst these are two extremes of the spectrum, we must manage risk in our own lives on a daily basis. However, what happens when assessing and managing risk is part of your work? How do we avoid diametrically opposed views on risk impacting on effective risk management?

Do we let the mathematicians do the stats for us and tell us why we can or can’t do an activity? After all, statistically eventually everything happens! If we’re purely relying on statistics though, more young people die on our roads from vehicular accidents than anything else. The government then jumps up and down and says that they’re having a blitz on road safety, but this just means more speeding fines. It doesn’t deal with the core issue that young males are massive risk takers. What we need to be doing is dealing with core issues, not randomly managing the symptoms.

In any organisation, you want to avoid the extremes. This is especially when working in experiential education. You can have people there who are so risk averse, they don’t want to leave the building. However, the far greater risk is the problem of staff who have the attitude, “Don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine!” These people either don’t understand how to manage risk, or they’re so full of their own self-worth, they have the idea that it will never happen to them. Therefore, they don’t need to do anything to manage risk, because nothing like that will ever happen!

If you have someone like this in your organisation, you need to get rid of them as they’re a danger to themselves and everyone around them. This is worse than the ‘expert’ blind spot where someone fails to see risk due to their experience, as this person fails to see risk due to their lack of experience and lack of understanding. They will disregard anyone else’s opinions too.

Not long ago I was running a canoe expedition up into the Shoalhaven Gorge. This is a magnificent area. Remote, pristine and rugged. It forms part of the Etrema Wilderness area and is accessible either by the lake, or by helicopter. Therefore, there’s little margin for error. We were about to set out on our journey when a flotilla of canoes came paddling in. It was a school group, most of whom weren’t wearing life jackets and the staff seemed ill-prepared.

We briefly engaged in conversation with one of the teachers and he told us that they’d never been here before. They just hired some boats and canoed up until they found a campsite. I didn’t ask what sort of safety equipment they brought. One of them was running around with a mobile phone, trying to get a signal. I informed him there was no point as the closest reception was 16km away. It would be silly for me to have suggested they use their satellite phone, but I did all the same, to which they replied, “No, we don’t have one of those. We didn’t know there wasn’t any reception down here.”

I decided to explore this situation further and asked a few more questions. They’d only decided in the last week they were going to bring the group of kids out. It was a co-ed group with no female staff. They had done a recce, but it was in a completely different area and because someone had seen a snake there, they thought it too dangerous to go. I was totally gobsmacked by this, thinking that these are the sort of people who end up costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars because they take no responsibility and end up getting into trouble, not being able to manage it and having to be evacuated.

I quickly realised I was talking to idiots and so I politely extracted myself from the conversation and went to do some final checks before we departed. Away we went up into the magnificent Gorge and paddled for almost three hours until we reached the campsite. I hadn’t thought any more of that group until we were setting up camp. One of the boys threw a piece of paper onto the fire pit in preparation for the evening’s campfire. All of a sudden I smelt smoke… the paper burst into flames. As the paper burnt out, I put my hand over the top of the fire pit. It was still hot! The idiot teachers from the other group had done nothing to make sure the fire was out. It would’ve been at least 6 hours since they’d departed the site and the heat coming out was enough to reignite.

Thankfully I don’t run into too many people like this, but it highlights such a lack of concern and understanding of risk. Did they even do a basic risk assessment? Even if they did, what was the point? This is a failure on so many levels of an organisation. To manage risk effectively, it means you need to develop a culture of risk management within the organisation. This doesn’t mean become risk averse. It means working together as a team to proactively work out what real risks are and how they can be effectively managed. It’s vital that you have an experienced operator providing oversight and not just a classroom teacher who’s been promoted beyond their talents, or an in house lawyer who’s never been outside of the office. These people might understand an aspect of risk, but don’t know how it translates into the real world.

With the right leadership promoting an open and honest culture of risk management in which discussions can occur on a regular basis about risks, hazards, incidents and near misses, you ensure you set and maintain the highest of standards for the safe operation of all of your programs. It is through this culture of awareness that we can continue to run safe and effective programs.

Snake Season!

David Gregory Adventure Explorer, Weird Stuff January 30, 2017February 9, 2017animal, Australia, Australian bush, brown, dangerous, outdoor education, signs and symptoms, snakes, toxic, treatment, venomous 0 Comment

It’s back to school for the year and as always, due to the beautifully warm weather, it’s one of the most popular times of the year for outdoor ed trips. It’s also prime snake season and given the fact that Australia has the world’s greatest collection of deadly snakes, including the deadliest and second deadliest that can kill you within an hour, if you’re bushwalking or camping, it’s one risk that seriously needs to be addressed.

Australia has around 140 different species of snake and about 100 of these are venomous. Yes, we do indeed have the most poisonous creatures in the world. However, out of all of these, only a few are likely to inflict a wound that could kill you. These include, but are not limited to the Inland Taipan (Fierce Snake), Brown snake, Tiger snake, Death adder, Black snake, Copperhead and Rough Scaled snake.

Each year in Australia, there are around 3000 snake bite injuries, of which 400 – 500 casualties receive anti-venom. A fact is that snakes don’t always envenom their victims and more often than not, it’s a dry bite. However, you must assume if bitten, that every bite is venomous and treated as such until otherwise proven. Also be aware that baby snakes are more likely to inject a massive dose of venom into you if they bite, as they don’t have the maturity to decide to venom or not to venom, that’s the question on all snake’s fangs.

A fatality as a result of a snake bite is quite rare. It’s roughly between 1 and 3 people out of the 3000 who receive bites year that will result in a fatality. Around 60% of recorded deaths in Australia have been due to brown snake bites; the remainder are generally shared out amongst the inland taipan (world deadliest snake), the tiger snake (super aggressive) and the death adder (scary name).

Therefore, how do you manage this risk? Well for starters “DON’T TOUCH SNAKES!” With the exception of the tiger snake, most snakes aren’t aggressive. By leaving them alone, you’ve basically managed most of the risk involved. I’ve encountered countless snakes over the years and I’ve never even come close to getting bitten, because they tend to make a fast getaway. However, when provoked, poked, prodded and picked up, they do tend to become quite responsive. The fact that most bites occur on hands and wrists when people try to capture or kill them, should say something. Stupid people have a tendency towards picking snakes up and boys in particular find that they can’t resist the temptation and on average more young males get bitten than anyone else. So again, “DON’T TOUCH SNAKES!”

To highlight just how docile they can be, one of my colleagues last year was setting up a shelter when a red belly black snake slithered over his foot. He stood still, possibly frozen from the initial shock and associated fear, and the snake just continued on its way, not even noticing that my colleague was there. If you’re hiking, ensure everyone is wearing sturdy footwear and heavy long pants and/or gators. The fangs on Australian snakes can’t usually penetrate through these materials that prove great protection against the fangs. The one snake bite casualty I dealt with had been hiking in reef sandals and been bitten on the arch of her foot after stepping on the snake. Had she been wearing hiking boots, she would never have been bitten.

Signs & Symptoms:

With everything, no matter how well you try to prevent these things, people still get bitten. (If only we could leave the stupid people at home). Most bites that occur when out hiking, occur when someone accidentally steps on them. The pain has been described from being struck by a baseball bat, to being like a stick flicking up at you, to people feeling nothing at all until they start showing the signs and symptoms of envenomation, which include headache, tingling, stinging, burning or abnormal feelings of the skin, feeling anxious, tachycardia (increased heart rate), irregular heartbeat, nausea (feeling sick) vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, dizziness, breathing difficulties, problems swallowing, muscle weakness, confusion, paralysis, coma or death in the most severe cases. You may also see redness around the area of the bite and residual venom. However, it’s possible that you won’t see two clean fang puncture wounds and so rely more on the signs and symptoms.

Treatment:

To treat a snake bite wound, use the pressure immobilisation method. To do this, lay the person flat and do not let the victim move or walk anywhere as this will increase the pace at which the venom travels through the body. Take a compression bandage (preferably a snake bite bandage if you have one in your kit) and apply pressure directly over the top of the bite. The bandage should be firmly on and not so tight that it restricts blood flow. Snake venom travels through the lymphatic system, not the blood stream and so the compression bandage slows this process. If you have a second bandage (which you should), start at the toes, or fingers and apply the pressure bandage all the way to the top of the limb. Use another bandage each time you run out and then test the toes or fingers for capillary refill to ensure it’s not too tight.

Once you have the entire limb bandaged, immobilise that limb. If it’s a leg, tie it to the other leg. If it’s an arm, splint or tie it to the body. Basically, just make sure they can’t move it. Then get them to professional emergency medical care as fast as possible. To be clear, this is just a general overview and for accurate up-to-date first aid advice, check the Australian Resus Council’s Official Guidelines

It’s important to be aware that snake bites can cause a severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis in some people. If you’re treating a snake bite and someone has an anaphylactic reaction, treat it in the same way you would any other anaphylaxis as it becomes the priority and then apply the pressure immobilisation bandage.
Whilst snakes are a risk when out and about in the Australian bush, the most important thing to remember in the effective management of this risk is, “DON’T TOUCH SNAKES!” Happy summer camping season!

First Week Back!

David Gregory General Stuff January 22, 2017January 9, 2017back to school, be bold, bold ideas, challenges, education, educator, growth, improvement, innovation, make it happen, push boundaries, school, students, teaching 0 Comment

Teaching is hard work. Sure you get great holidays, but they’re both well-deserved and absolutely essential. Having said that, why is the first week back after a break so exhausting? If you work for a school that’s anything like the schools for which I’ve worked, most of the term you’re running at a supercharged pace. Usually this pace during term time is ok, however, for me, the start of every term is particularly taxing and I put it down to compulsory meetings about absolutely nothing.

There’s nothing more boring and draining than sitting in a pointless meeting listening to someone rubbish on about strategic plans for the department. In my experience, these have been nothing more than pointless time wasting activities in which nothing is achieved, or if something is possibly decided as perhaps a good idea, the good idea is deferred to a committee or held off until ‘later.’ Everybody at the meeting knows that ‘later’ means never! So why is this?

The failure to achieve anything at all is completely counter to what teaching is actually about. Teaching is about everyone learning new things and about getting things done. It’s about moving forward, about improving oneself and growing! So why is it so hard for this to happen within a school? As educators, we should be at the forefront of innovation and making things happen. Yet the overall culture of schools tends to be hell-bent against new ideas and innovation.

The sad fact is that the majority of the education system in Australia is still stuck in the 19th century. Principals who should have retired when Mr Squiggle was still drawing his upside down master pieces just keep hanging on to what worked ‘back in their day!’ Well their day has come and gone and now with Australia falling behind Kazakhstan’s educational standards, something has to change. But if the top down approach isn’t going to work, who’s going to change it? Well you have to! If there’s ever a time to get to and do something, it’s now! Every time you have a good idea that could improve the education of your students, then make it happen. You might get told no five times, but don’t give up.

If you really want to make something happen, then it’s up to you to find a way to do it. It’s time to be bold and push the boundaries. Too often I’ve seen teachers spoon feed kids the answers to everything just so they get results, but this shows a complete lack of innovation and is ultimately damaging to the student. Sure they might get a good result on one thing, but then they become dependent on the teacher giving them everything. The same goes the opposite way. The teachers who are prepared to spoon feed their students everything, are the same ones who put road blocks up to new ideas and innovation. You know the ones I’m talking about because someone’s name had just popped into your head.

On staff development days, they’re the ones ready to kill off all good ideas because it’s uncomfortable to them to try something new and something different. After all, they’ve just got back from the holidays so they couldn’t possibly do something new so soon. They’re great with the excuses! However, anything worth doing comes with challenges. To achieve great things, you need to be bold and it will feel uncomfortable, but it’s so worth it.

To kick off this new academic year, don’t give up on your bold ideas. Make them happen! No matter how grand the challenge might be, you can find a way! After all, it’s about developing the best educational opportunities for your students, through which you can help everyone to achieve great results.

What’s The Point Of Outdoor Education?

David Gregory General Stuff January 15, 2017January 13, 2017challenges, education, educators, emotional, experiential education, goals, growth, independent, innovative, kids, life challenges, Life goals, opportunities, outdoor education, real, reality, skills, social, spiritual, students 0 Comment

I’ve been reading a number of articles lately which have had a common theme about where education is headed. Given the number of theories on how people learn and retain information best, it always strikes me as odd when experienced educators, usually in management positions, suddenly think that more time in a classroom equates to greater results for the school.

Whilst this might work for some students, what’s the point of having a cohort of super intelligent and well educated doctors who have the bedside manner of a pathologist? Many big companies pay people like myself large amounts of money to run team building and leadership programs for their staff, because they don’t have the capacity to effectively deal with people, work as cohesive teams, adapt and problem solve! Just as an aside, if you are from a big company and you have a large amount of money to give away, I’m more than happy to run a corporate team building weekend for you!

If this is what more and more organisations are looking for, why then is it so hard for schools to see the value in what outdoor education does? I can’t for the life of me work it out! Many schools have outdoor education as a token gesture annual year level camp. More often than not, they also get someone else to run it for them. The problem with this is the fact that activities in isolation don’t add up to the long-term benefit that a well-structured outdoor ed program can deliver and it’s these long-term benefits that make all the difference to the overall educational experience.

The whole point of modern education should be to provide students with a dynamic skill set to tackle the challenges of life, not just academic, but social and emotional as well! This is where outdoor education comes in. Forget about the specific activities for a moment. Worrying about this can be a distraction from the wider picture, so instead think about what emotional and spiritual goals you want to achieve from your programs. Be specific with it too! Do you want doctors with a good bedside manner? Do you want trades people who can setup and run their own enterprises? Do you want kids to be honest, responsible and functional members of society? Or do you just want a number so the principal can feel good about themselves? Anyone can get an academic result. To be honest, it’s probably one of the easiest things in education. Yet producing independent, innovative, determined and compassionate young men and women is a far more difficult challenge for educators.

The world however, needs young men and women to be equipped with far more than a university entrance rank. By only focusing on academics, you’re actually setting kids up for failure and failure is something modern adolescents aren’t very good at handling. I’ll talk about the lack of resilience in kids today in another article, but for now I’ll stick to the point. You need to provide more than academics and a token gesture of a year level camp each year. Outdoor education needs to become an integral part of your school’s program and culture.

What should you do about it? Well, for starters, the school needs a director of outdoor education, one who’s experienced in developing and delivering innovative, sequential learning programs that link together and increase the challenge that the students must face as they progress through the years. Then allocate time throughout the year to challenge students in their social and emotional growth through outdoor activities. Better still, look at a longer term year 9 or 10 program. Let’s be honest, these two years could be a complete waste of time, so you may as well do something constructive with them, rather than just let them tread water until they’re a bit more mature. There’s some awesome long-stay programs being run around the world, so check them out and see how you could shape the lives of your students with something like this. If all else fails, at the very least, link every year level camp to real social and emotional outcomes so that teachers can work towards achieving them, not just ‘getting away’ for a week.

The whole point of outdoor education is to push kids outside their comfort zone and to challenge them. It’s not until we begin to feel uncomfortable about something new, that we actually start to develop and grow as individuals. It’s this emotional and social growth that becomes invaluable to the child’s overall education. The more they’re given real opportunities to deal with the reality living with others, working as a team and reflecting on their own life and actions, the more balanced an individual will be.

Forget the insane drive for academics at all cost. Whilst it produces some pretty numbers that everyone can go ‘ooooh and ahhhrr’ for about five minutes, all of this is often meaningless and easily forgotten. Whilst it helps the principal make out that they’re doing a great job, it also produces crappy soulless lawyers, crooked politicians, rubbish doctors and rude tradesmen who don’t wipe their shoes at the door.

Outdoor Ed is more important than ever to help develop real life skills for each and every student. Don’t leave leadership, team building and resilience to someone else. It’s a vital part of education for young men and women so they can lead healthy balanced and wonderful lives.

What’s The Next Adventure?

David Gregory General Stuff, Places To Go! Things To See! January 8, 2017February 9, 2017adventure, challenge, experience, explore, goal setting, new experiences, new skill, travel 0 Comment

As we’re in the middle of the Christmas holidays, what’s the plan? If you’re a teacher, you have the amazing opportunity to have a block of six or seven weeks of holidays. Have you been planning for this all year, or has it suddenly arrived and you have nothing planned at all?

Either way, it’s about time you went on an adventure. I don’t mean going to the beach or Bali, sitting there reading a gossip mag, having a swim and getting a tan. It’s time to do something new and amazing! Get out of your comfort zone and experience life!

Why is it important for you to make time for an adventure? Aren’t the holidays just about rest and relaxation? Well they could be, but then again, too much pointless R&R is just boring and it will turn you into a boring person. There’s plenty of boring people in the world, so don’t be one of them. If you’re willing to push yourself, look for new places to explore and try new things, it opens a world of opportunity and as a teacher, isn’t that what you’re basically helping others to achieve?

What’s something that you’ve been wanting to do for ages? So many people put off their dreams for some mystic retirement period, but why not live it now? Why not challenge yourself? Why not book something today and leave tomorrow? There are so many exciting possibilities. It’s simply dependent on your making that decision to go. There are more opportunities than ever before to search for and discover unique things to do. Just fly somewhere and explore towns, areas, new things (As a side note, always check the travel advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs so you’re not going into a live war zone. Most people want to actually return from their adventure).

To throw a few ideas out there: Learn a new skill! Last year I did a diving course. It’s got nothing to do with what I teach, but the experience of it was beneficial. Travel to another town, state, country! Experience different cultures, their foods, their traditions. Get another job! Try working in retail or hospitality over the break. It’s some extra money, but at the same time it’s learning other skills that will help you teach and could help get you a promotion too.

No matter what it is, trying something new can be extremely reinvigorating and will not only help improve your own life. Having your own new adventures and life experiences will make you a better teacher. The more you’re exposed to the diverse activities, jobs, cultures and places of the world, the more you can be in tune with how to teach young men and women to be able to thrive in the world. Right now, go out and find something new, challenging and adventurous to do.

Goal Setting For 2017!

David Gregory General Stuff January 2, 2017December 30, 2016education, goal setting, life lessons, new experiences, preparation 0 Comment

Back to School can conjure up feelings of joy for parents and trepidation for teachers. It’s hard to miss all the wild excitement for it, as five minutes after the post-Christmas sales finish, the back to School ads appear. So what are some considerations for heading back into a new academic year? From a teacher’s point of view, I’d love to see kids coming back having had an awesome break, feeling reinvigorated for their next year of learning with one or two goals in mind for what they want to do. So how can you achieve this? Most kids have no idea what they want. The same could be said for a lot of adults too, but you never know what someone wants until you take the time to ask them.

Whilst the cliché idea of the New Year’s resolution is nothing more than a notional way people feel good for a day or two before they go back to their old ways, goal setting with your kids is completely different and is an excellent way to create a positive and proactive start to the year.

Take some time in the holidays to spend a day one on one with each of your kids. A special day out with mum or dad. Do something fun and then ask the child about what he or she would like to achieve this year. What do they want to achieve academically, sports-wise and for their personal interest? What excites them? Is there anything that worries them, or anything they might see as a barrier this year? This can be a great and informative goal-setting exercise and you might discover interests that your kids have that you never knew.

This sort of one on one family discussion can quite often be missed due to the busy nature of our lives, but it can create focus and lead to other great conversations with your kids throughout the year. It’s really important you make the time about them. It’s not what you want them to do or achieve this year. It has to come from them. It’s about what they want to achieve. Your task is to tactfully frame the conversation and provide the opportunity for your kids to think about the idea of setting goals.

Having a healthy and proactive mind goes hand in hand with having a healthy diet and being physically active. So coming into the new year, set the scene for your kids to get the most out of 2017! Spend some time, set some goals and together you can look back as a family on the many proud moments that come from this. Have a wonderful and prosperous 2017!

First Aid Re-Cert

David Gregory First Aid, Risk Management December 18, 2016December 19, 2016challenge, education, experience, First Aid, harm, hazards, Remote Safety Solutions, Risk Management, risks, students, training 0 Comment

Once again my three years were up. It’s almost like Logan’s Run with the light going red on my hand… Well not quite, but first aid certification in Australia only lasts three years. So last week it was back to the classroom for first aid update training!

Often the quality of basic first aid courses is pretty woeful. You sit there in front of an instructor who has the power point burning hot. He monotonously steps you through each and every pain-staking slide and reads everything to you that you could easily have read yourself. Most courses are simply the ‘compliance’ stuff you need to ‘maintain’ your qualification so you can treat a paper cut in the office or be eligible for the ‘official First Aid officer’ payment. If you can, avoid these sorts of courses at all cost, as they really teach you nothing more than CPR and how to dial 000.

Although most of the first aid you’re likely to be doing in your day to day work is going to be relatively sedate, you never know what will happen and you can get thrown in the deep end and find yourself outside your comfort zone very quickly. The reality is that most causalities don’t sit there calmly whilst you bandage their non-broken arm. If someone needs your help, there’s usually going to be pain, covered in blood, collapsed, vomiting or all of the above.

Case in point, one day I was walking along the corridor outside the classrooms. One of my colleagues yelled out to me to come and help. I stepped into the room to see one of the students collapsed, fitting on the floor, frothing at the mouth and going blue in the face. Everyone in the room had frozen and didn’t know what to do. If you’re dealing with kids in particular, the reality is that something like this is eventually going to happen. You’re better to be prepared for it and not have it happen, than not to be prepared when it does. Walking into a confronting scene and being able to react appropriately is something that only training and experience can provide. The better the training, the easier it is to get your head around what needs to happen next.

I didn’t know what to expect from this course, as every course I’ve done over years has varied dramatically. Within the first hour, we were into scenarios and this was where it got interesting. Casualties were made up with some awesome looking wounds, injuries and scenes were staged with heavy machinery, vehicles and boats. With fake blood everywhere, it was scarily realistic!

You’re thrown into each scenario with little or no information, which will be the case if you find yourself dealing with a similar situation in real life. It’s up to you to work with the resources you have to contain and respond to the situation at hand. This is generally easy when you’ve only got one casualty, but add in two or three and a bit of anger and conflict to the mix, then you have some tough situations with which to deal.

The course was amazing with some short sessions of instruction, followed by a variety of these intense, realistic scenarios. Each and every one of them got the adrenaline pumping! From someone running at you yelling for help, to approaching a scene that’s chaotic, full of noise, smoke, casualties, blood and screams, it was challenging. Even though you know it’s setup, it still has the effect of raising your heart rate and throwing you in to manage what could be a real-life situation, a workplace accident, a vehicular accident or even an accident at home.

Training in this manner is important, as it helps you to pause, check for danger and potential risks and hazards as well as assess the situation in as calm a manner as possible. Many people rush into situations, which often puts them at risk of harm as well. Making situations feel real means that your brain is being pushed to make those informed decisions before you’re confronted with the complex challenge of a real situation.

The great thing about the course was the fact that everyone was pushed. No matter how experienced we were, the scenarios pushed the limits and I certainly got a lot out of it. The remote area course was far more than just completing the 3 year compliance check. It was interesting, it was challenging, but overall it was rewarding, as I’ve come away with more confidence in how to assess complex situations that in reality might one day happen.

As a good guide for first aid training, forget Senior First Aid, seriously what’s the point? In my opinion, it’s a complete waste of time and money that won’t really do anything more than train you in the most basic of first aid theories, which doesn’t prepare you very well for the real thing. Look for something like a Remote Area or Wilderness First Aid run by a reputable provided such as Remote Safety Solutions. It’s even better if it can be tailored to your specific areas of operation. It’s well worth the time and effort to do this. You and your organisation will be far better prepared if something does happen.

12 Debrief Questions

David Gregory General Stuff December 12, 2016February 7, 2017achievement, challenge, education, future, Life goals, overcoming fear, reward, Things to ponder 0 Comment

This week, given the approaching holidays, it’s a bit of a short one, but at the same time, this is something I hope can provide the basis for some amazing debriefs. Whilst you should always adapt your questions to the specific circumstances, it’s handy to have a few ideas up your sleeve for a good debrief.

12 Handy Debrief questions:

What’s your goal for (X period of time camp, month, year, etc)

What’s been the most challenging thing about…

What was the most rewarding thing about…

What’s been the hardest decision you’ve had to make?

How and why did you come to that decision?

Given what you know now about X, how would you approach something similar in the future?

Where do you see your life in a year? In three?

What’s something nice that someone’s done for you or helped you with that you really appreciated.

What are you most looking forward to about…

What do you see the biggest challenge being in achieving…

How have you overcome a fear or challenge in the past?

What’s been a situation in which someone has surprised you (in a good way) and why?

Scariest Trip Ever!

David Gregory Camps, General Stuff, Risk Management December 5, 2016February 7, 2017camping, challenge, experience, experiential education, risk assessment, Risk Management, storm, weather 0 Comment

A while back, I talked about the weather and how it was a good way of pushing kids outside of their comfort zones when it was raining and a little bit tough. I also mentioned at the time, there was one experience in which I was sent out in conditions that weren’t safe, nor character building. Balancing this risk versus benefit is the ongoing challenge for the outdoor educator. However, even when you plan and prepare for everything, sometimes you find yourself caught by a weather front that’s far more intense than anyone predicted and this was one of those times.

The morning started as most days towards the end of summer. Clear blue skies, hot, humid and not a hint of breeze. After a delicious cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs, we finished packing the trailers and I checked the weather. Despite this perfect morning, when I saw the forecast, I immediately raised my concerns. The weather was set to change early to mid afternoon and a severe weather warning had been issued. With severe thunderstorms and damaging winds forecast, it wasn’t something I wanted to be taking the kids into.

I argued the point with the director, expressing my concerns that it wasn’t a great idea to head out with that warning in place, especially when we were supposed to be camping near a river, which floods quite quickly. Despite all these concerns, I was told, “Don’t worry about it. It will be fine.” Unconvinced, I left, having been told we were still going out on the hike.

It was about a 50 min drive from base camp to get to the trail head where we left the bus and our ute. By the time we’d done all our briefings and had lunch, it was around 1pm. It was hot and extremely muggy. The sky above was clear, but to the southwest an angry bank of clouds was building and I could hear the distant rumble of thunder. Setting out, I had a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. The hike followed a winding track along a rugged ridge line. I’d hiked it many times before, but this time felt so different.

About an hour passed and, several kilometres in, the humidity shifted, the temperature suddenly dropped and that’s when the storm hit. We were engulfed. The wind ripped through, mercilessly bending the trees above us. Suddenly came a flash. It felt as if the air had been sucked out of my lungs. The deafening boom rippled through the group. There’d been no time to count the seconds between the two.

I yelled out for the group to stop. “Everyone on their packs!” I instructed to try and insulate them in some way from what was about to hit. Moments later, another blinding flash, was followed immediately by the concussive boom. I could feel the ground shake. Quickly checking I had everyone and they were all in their rain jackets and sitting on their packs, there was nothing else I could do, as we were hit by wave after wave of lightning strikes.

My heart raced and I felt helpless as each strike hit, some of them only metres away and rain sheeted down. There was nothing we could do. There was no shelter and no lower ground to which we could safely get. We had to hold our position or increase the risk of getting hit.

Branches whipped and creaked ominously, several cracking loudly and crashing down below us. It felt as if it’d never end. The rain cascaded over us, soaking every inch of our Gortex jackets until they reached saturation point and no longer held the moisture at bay.

The storm crashed around us for what felt like an eternity, yet in reality, it had only been two hours. The rain began to ease, and the deafening booms of the thunder become increasingly distant.

I felt a sense of relief as I did a quick assessment of the group, but this was short-lived. I realised quickly that three students had all the signs of hypothermia and another storm front was rapidly approaching. With no time to lose, I left the other two instructors with the group and taking one instructor with me, we raced back for the vehicle. I’d had a lot of time to think of a plan whilst perched on top of my pack trying to avoid a subterranean strike through the tree roots and pool of water in which I was sitting. The plan was simple. Get the 4WD and find a safe alternate campsite. This was easier said than done, as we had to race the coming storm and run about 3km back to where we started. Through muddy puddles we dashed, slipping and sliding on the sodden surface.

Massive droplets crashed down on our back. The storm was here! Without our packs and with less than a kilometre to go, we sprinted for the vehicles. Lightning flashed around us as the thunderous boom smashed us again and again. I felt as if any moment we were going to get nailed by a strike. Gasping for air, I could feel my heart pounding through my chest. Turning a corner and charging down the hill, I could see the vehicles. Suddenly there was a blinding flash and a deafening explosion. I saw sparks fly from the roof of the nearby building, as I felt the air get sucked out of me as the concussion of the blast rippled through my skin.

With keys in hand I grabbed the door handle and jabbed the key into the lock. It clicked open and I leapt into the driver’s seat, safely out of the storm. Taking a few moments to catch my breath, there was no time to lose. Off we went to shuttle the group back to safety.

It was a slippery and treacherous drive in and out from where we’d left them. It took another hour and a half to complete the evacuation. We soon had a fire going, some water on the boil and our hypothermic campers in some warm dry clothes.

That evening, camp food had never tasted better and I was more thankful than ever before of my cosy sleeping bag. The evening air was filled with the sound of joyous frogs and cicadas. There was not even a hint of the storm that had torn through us that day.

← Previous