RISK MANAGEMENT FOR OUTDOOR &
EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
SERVICES
Risk Management Audits
Policy and Procedure Manuals
Accreditation Support
Incident Reporting Strategies
Staff & Board Training
Critical Incident Response Scenarios
Speaking Engagements
Expert Witness Testimony
Incident Analysis and Learning
TESTIMONIAL
"Steve Smith and Experiential Consulting provided outstanding service to our team during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Steve's expertise helped guide our planning throughout this unprecedented period. With their help, we were able to develop safety protocols that allowed Northwest Youth Corps to return to field programming during a period of extreme anxiety across our nation. Steve’s thoughtfulness and ability to ask insightful questions helped us remain mission focused as we developed tools and strategies for success in the Covid-19 environment."
Jeff Parker
Executive Director
Northwest Youth Corps
SELECTED CLIENTS
National Audubon Society
Outward Bound USA
The Sierra Club
The Wilderness Society
Montana Wilderness School
Northwest Youth Corps
YMCA of Greater Seattle
Big City Mountaineers
The Bush School
GutMonkey
Global Citizen Year
Outdoor Outreach
Overland
Open Sky Wilderness Therapy
The Mountain Center
Graywolf Ranch
Seattle Preparatory School
EarthCorps
Rite of Passage Journeys
Riverstone International School
Reality Sports
Lakeside School
The Overlake School
Forest Ridge School
University Prep School
Washington Alpine Club
Wilderness Awareness School
Wasatch Academy
WA Trails Association
American YouthWorks
Heart of Oregon Corps
Maximizing the benefits of outdoor experiences
Research shows that children spend over 90% of their lives indoors, and 50 hours per week using some kind of electronic device. The negative impact this trend has on their well-being, physical and cognitive growth, and their ability to prepare themselves for adulthood, is also well documented.
Research also shows positive correlation between outdoor experiences, increased health, and enhanced social skills / cognitive development. As society now starts to recognize these character-building, positive aspects of outdoor experiences, many schools, outdoor programs, foundations and government agencies are creating tremendous momentum to increase access and opportunity.
Experiential Consulting can help maximize the educational outcomes of your program, while assessing and managing risks to individuals and organizations. We believe in the transformative power of outdoor experiences and are here to help you make the most of your opportunities.
Steve Smith - Principal / Consultant
Steve Smith has worked in the outdoor industry for over thirty years, specializing in program quality, risk management, and staff training.
From remote wilderness to urban settings, he has witnessed the transformative power of outcomes-based, powerful outdoor experiences, and has also directly managed the impact that unexpected incidents can have.
Steve has served as the Chair of the Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC) for three years (2014 - 2016) and was a standing member of the WRMC Steering Committee (2011-2017). His career has included administrative leadership roles with national organizations including Outward Bound and The Student Conservation Association. He served two terms as a board member for the Northwest Outward Bound School, where he still serves on the school's Safety Committee. He has a master's degree in teaching English, along with eight years of university-level teaching experience, and earned a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification from the Society for Human Resources Management, all of which help him view outdoor education through a variety of educational and administrative lenses.
He understands the outdoor industry and risk management thoroughly, from the students to the leaders, from the staff to the parents, and from the board level to the ground level. He can help you align those different pieces to build a strong risk management culture with supporting tools and systems.
He is the primary author and editor of Beneficial Risks - The Evolution of Risk Management for Outdoor & Experiential Education Programs.
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