“The wilderness is healing and forgiving, if you’ve been hurt or feel awful or just need to BE; it always welcomes you. I feel safer in the wilderness than in a parking lot – there are snakes and spiders around the parking lot, too. If you let yourself get out in nature, there is incredible potential to heal old and new wounds and discover how amazing and strong you are.”
Shari Leach, Executive Director, Women’s Wilderness Institute
In 1998, the Women’s Wilderness Institute was founded by Laura Tyson who saw the need for an “outward bound” type of experience for girls and women. The programs in existence at that time focused on teaching young men – particularly men in the military – and helped them learn how to be good followers, listen to others, and often to take fewer risks.
For girls to survive and thrive, Tyson felt that in addition to feeling competent in the physical tasks associated with camping and climbing, girls also needed to discover their unique leadership styles, and the importance of expressing your opinion and being willing to disagree with others while also developing confidence through competence. This leads to their development of more authentic relationships. As such, Women’s Wilderness uses hiking, camping, climbing, mountain biking and canoeing to teach the intra- and inter-personal skills.
Current Executive Director Shari Leach explains that girls and women get a “biological reward” in the form of oxytocin from being in harmony with others and so may be less willing to give their own opinions and stand up for themselves if they think it will mean risking harm to the relationship in some form. Additionally, U.S. culture reinforces that message by telling girls that they should be nice and easy to get along with. Leach says that many girls need to learn how to honestly express their own needs and work toward a solution based on their real needs, not what they think the group might want to do. Leach says that in the programs of Women’s Wilderness, girls learn how to say “You want to climb a peak and I want a rest day” and then have an honest discussion about how to compromise.
Women’s Wilderness offers a variety of programs for girls, including overnight and day programming that include rock climbing and art, or feature backpacking and an optional peak climb. The wilderness programs teach skills like using maps and compass, while others have a special focus, like community and identity in their Latina Girls’ Adventure Days.
Executive Director Leach says that it is amazing to watch the difference in the girls between the first day in the program and when they return. Leach notices that on the first day, everyone is quiet and shy and willing to agree with the group on just about everything. As a program progresses, the girls become more willing to stand up for themselves and disagree and then work it out. She says “The girls are very self-conscious about their appearance at the beginning. As they start to go farther and do more, their bodies become something they have an appreciation for and awe of. This is huge for girls and women.”
The girls have the experience of seeing the staff, who are competent women, doing everything on the trip from loading a backpack to fixing a stove to setting up the rock climbs. The girls come to understand that they too can become proficient in skills like these. The experience “creates the possibility in their minds that they can try it too.”
Leach was excited to report that Women’s Wilderness received a grant in June 2014 from the Community Foundation of Boulder to help develop leadership in women of color through outdoor experiences. Women’s Wilderness offers programs for women in rock climbing, mountain biking, backpacking, fly fishing and paddling. The focus is on learning new skills in a supportive environment. Leach says that women are often reluctant to spend money on themselves. She adds, “In addition to doing something good for yourself, when women participate in outdoor programs, they are providing good role modeling for their daughters and other women, demonstrating that adult women deserve to take time off and take care of ourselves.” Programs are offered in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico.
For more information about the Women’s Wilderness Institute, visit the website.