Sometimes the phrase “cultural immersion therapy” gets tossed around the internet, but technically, there’s no such practice. However, we’ve found cultural immersion to be an incredibly therapeutic element of our outdoor adventure therapy program. Here are some of the commonly asked questions about cultural immersion and the role it plays in the Pure Life Adventure curriculum.
What Is Cultural Immersion?
Cultural immersion within a therapeutic setting is an extra element that gives students a rich understanding of culture besides their own by engaging in all aspects of family life. With cultural immersion, our students will spend time in nature with a Costa Rican family. They will engage in the family’s daily life, from harvesting and preparing food to performing daily chores.
The host family they will be working with doesn’t adapt the chores, food, or experiences to what the student is comfortable with. Instead, we expect our students to step outside what they know and are familiar with to learn and grow. By becoming immersed in a culture that is not theirs, they can observe essential human characteristics we all share and assess their needs versus wants.
Researchers have found that cultural immersion is very beneficial for personal development. Specifically, it helps broaden perceptions of the self and others. This allows young adults who are actively defining their identity to open their eyes and perspectives to the many ways that people live, thereby expanding the possibilities in their own lives. Cultural immersion also helps young adults foster independence by improving self-efficacy. Kids who feel they can adapt and thrive in other cultures will feel independent and confident in a way unique to this experience.
What Are The Benefits Of Cultural Immersion?
Have you ever been in a room where you are the only one who speaks your language? Or be the only one of your gender? Been the only one who doesn’t understand what is going on around you? If you’ve ever found yourself in a similar situation, you may remember the need to adapt and reach outside your knowledge and understanding to sort out your surroundings, ask a question, seek help or ask directions. When we are forced into a circumstance we’ve never been in before we have no choice but to learn, adapt and grow. Cultural immersion is choosing to put yourself in a situation that is new, different, or even uncomfortable. It is during times of discomfort or when facing the unknown that we create opportunities to learn about ourselves and create a new level of self-awareness. We can’t improve who we are by remaining stagnant and maintaining situations that are familiar.
As humans, when we don’t expose ourselves to experiences different than our own, we limit our understanding and capabilities. By choosing a cultural immersion option, a new culture can be extremely helpful in aiding young adults living at home to achieve their independence. When we interrupt our daily routine and comforts, we can then begin to build new ways of looking at and responding to the world around us. In fact, one study that examined the changes in young adults who participated in a cultural immersion program found that participants:
- Broadened their perspectives
- Had an increased understanding of self
- Increased their understanding of their relationship with others
- Challenged assumptions about themselves and others
- Gained a sense of connectedness to themselves and people around the globe.
One of the most beneficial aspects of cultural immersion for young adults is providing a new and truthful experience of a world outside their societal norm. Cultural immersion will take a deep dive into what the world looks like for millions who don’t have the creature comforts, technology, or ease that our modern life typically provides. At times, it can be a shock to realize that simple things such as access to clean drinking water are actually a luxury they take for granted. By exposing young adults to different cultures and lifestyles can help them reassess their own life and priorities. Many young adults who immerse themselves in a different culture are profoundly impacted by the loyalty, focus on family, and overall happiness that the members of the community have. During this cultural immersion process, participants often explore and strengthen their core values in addition to gaining a deeper appreciation of an unfamiliar place.
What Are Some Examples of Cultural Immersion?
Our cultural immersion and nature therapy program will bring young adults inside the home of a local Costa Rican family. Typically, when staying with the local family, they may sleep on the floor of the home with the rest of the group. All local families that work with our therapy group will provide a safe and clean environment. Host families will ask that the therapy members pitch in and assist with the daily chores inside and outside of the home. Chores could include harvesting food, helping prepare meals, repairs on the homestead, and much more. The intent of cultural immersion is to experience life for the Costa Rican community in its truest form. We hope to help young adults gain perspective and understanding of what life looks like outside of their first-world life and experiences.
Along with cultural immersion therapy, Pure Life incorporates additional types of therapy for a well-rounded experience. Young adults will have the opportunity to learn new skills such as whitewater rafting, surfing, and repelling. Our licensed therapists will work with students weekly on their physical health by introducing an organic diet, daily exercise, and meditation. We will also include weekly talk therapy on an individual and group basis. Pure Life is more than just therapy. Pure Life is a life-changing experience that will not only improve your young adults’ mental health but also teach coping strategies to build confidence and life skills for continued success.
The Science Behind Cultural Immersion Therapy
Our brains are wired with a complex system of connections that started forming in the womb. These connections are like a highway where all of your ideas, feelings, beliefs, self-concept, hopes, fears, and worries travel from one area of your brain to another. But these connections are malleable and, with the right experiences, can be “re-wired” to change how your brain is connected.
For young adults who are struggling with mental health problems, substance use, low self-esteem, poor self-efficacy, and other problems, this is excellent news. Our brains are powerful, and they are changeable. Usually, in order to change how our brains are connected, we have to have time, desire, and support to do so. Again, this is great news for people who want to change how they feel or function.
However, depending on the type of change you want to make, it can take years of effort, especially for older adults. Beautifully, young adult’s brains are still forming, so if you can make a big impact at this crucial time in development, you can reduce the time it takes to change. To truly take advantage of the developmental stage of young adults, which allows them to change their minds, cultural immersion could be just the experience they need to truly shift the connections in their brains.
Through cultural immersion, young adults are exposed to new ideas, enjoy new foods, push themselves to connect (despite cultural and language barriers), and find that they are capable of more than they realized. This immersive experience is just what a young brain needs—helping young adults grow their confidence and social skills through the rewiring process that inevitably comes from such a unique experience.
Cultural Immersion vs. Traditional Therapy: What’s The Difference?
Cultural immersion and traditional therapy have (maybe surprisingly) a lot in common. Both focus on the individual needs and hopes of the participants, engage trained mental health professionals, require some buy-in from the participants, seek broad perspectives, increase self-esteem, and provide opportunities for growth.
However, some of the reasons you might want to consider a cultural immersion experience, especially for young adults, are that these experiences could provide rapid, long-lasting change. Due to their developmental stage and the elasticity of their brains, young people are perfectly positioned to gain a ton of insight and confidence.
There are plenty of effective and helpful therapies for young adults. However, cultural immersion provides experiences that young adults simply can’t have when sitting in a room with a therapist in their hometown. Talk therapy is helpful and offers many benefits, and cultural immersion can supercharge those benefits.
Additionally, good cultural immersion programs will offer some type of therapy through the program. Excellent programs will offer individual therapy and group therapy based on proven methods and provided by trained mental health experts.
How Pure Life’s Cultural Immersion Program Stands Out
If you are looking for a therapeutic cultural immersion program, you are likely feeling overwhelmed, disappointed, frustrated, or even angry. Maybe your child struggles with a mental health condition, fell into the wrong crowd, uses substances, or suffered some type of trauma that has made it difficult for them to thrive.
As their parent, you know their potential, and it’s painful when kids don’t meet it. That’s why finding the right outdoor adventure therapeutic program is important—you want your child to succeed. Our program stands apart. Not only do we offer a cultural immersion experience, but we also provide individual therapy, group therapy, adventure activities (think whitewater rafting, surfing, hiking, rainforest backpacking, rappelling, and kayaking), and more.
Our team loves what they do. Every aspect of our job is a joy—the young adults, the adventuring, the growth we witness. If you’d like to learn more about cultural immersion therapy with Pure Life Wilderness Adventures, contact us at any time. Your mental health is our top priority. We want to help you build a safe and healthy path towards mental strength and self-confidence.
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