Frequently Asked Questions

Who is adventure therapy for?

Anyone wanting to explore and address their mental health issues or other stressors in their life. You might have tried counselling before and found that sitting on a couch and trying to talk to a stranger for an hour is not for you.

You might have been interested in seeking support but prefer something less "talky".

You might also find it easier or more meaningful to connect with your thoughts and feelings while engaging in physical activity.

We can work one-on-one, with young people and their parents or carers, and in small groups.

What qualifications do adventure therapists have?

Pete is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with over 15 years experience in clinical and community Social Work in Australia and overseas.

As well as 20 years experience rock climbing, he has trained with the The Australian Climbing Instructors Association and is completing ongoing training in Outdoor Leadership. He is also a member of the Australian Association for Bush Adventure Therapy and the Australian Association of Social Workers.

He holds a current Working With Children’s Check, National Police Check and Senior First Aid Certificate.

What does a typical appointment look like?

Once you've completed a referral form and sent it through to Hold Fast, we'll be in touch to discuss a suitable appointment time. Usually we like to have the first meeting in our counselling rooms at The Base in Newcastle West so we can have a good opportunity to discuss your adventure treatment plan. If you're really not keen on an office based appointment to start with, that's fine, we can work out an alternative. Although we don’t want to hit you with 1000 questions, we will in our initial appointment talk about your needs and goals, your interests, and develop a plan for how we can best work together to address these.

Rock climbing and abseiling are big favourites at Hold Fast, so is bushwalking, fishing, being by the ocean, and every now and then we run a camp. We can do all of these or none, and we can also discuss other ideas you might have. The key is that whatever the activity is, we link it to how we can learn more about ourselves and use this to improve our mental (and physical) health. If you’re working with any other support services, we’ll chat about that too so we can make sure we’re all working together.

We’ll still have the occasional appointment in the counselling room, where we can reflect and review our progress, and discuss any changes we might need to make.

What are the fees?

There are a few different fee options we offer.

Pete is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, and can offer a Medicare rebate under a GP-referred Mental Health Treatment Plan for eligible adventurers. There is a current gap fee of $105 for a one- hour session.

If you have an NDIS plan, we can work with you and/ or your plan manager to work out the best fit.

If neither of the above is appropriate, there is a private fee option, which can vary depending on location and length of session.

We want to make this therapy accessible to all who are interested, so if you have any questions or concerns about the fees or affordability, don't hesitate to get in touch.

If there is anything that hasn’t been covered by the above, give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to chat about how adventure therapy might work for you.

How do I make a referral?

Check out the Contact page for details.