Using an Adventure Therapy Activity to Assess the Adlerian Lifestyle

Abstract

The lifestyle is a central concept in Adlerian theory necessary for understanding a client and the purpose of behavior. Although there are a variety of methods counselors can employ to explore the lifestyle, to date, no literature addressing the use of Adventure Therapy (AT) exists. Adventure Therapy is a creative and interactive mode of counseling consistent with Adlerian theory that uses creativity and experiential activities to foster insight, awareness, and growth in clients. This article introduces a creative way to explore the client's lifestyle using an AT activity called Ubuntu cards. The authors provide an overview of Adlerian theory, define Adlerian lifestyle, and explore traditional methods of assessing the lifestyle. The article also includes a detailed outline for using Ubuntu cards to assess a client's lifestyle.

Adlerian-informed supervision: Protecting counselors from burnout and improving client outcomes in the juvenile justice system.

“…Keeping the role of teacher, Janice then shifts her focus to intervention skills and teaches Anthony about the use of creative and active interventions with adolescents. Specifically, she introduces a creative activity involving cards with images (McCarty & Christian, 2020) for Anthony to use with Chris in their next session. At the end of the session, Janice asks Anthony to again reflect on the Crucial Cs related to his work with Chris and what they had discussed during supervision.…”