Chicago Voyagers goes beyond offering young people outdoor experiences. We use the outdoors as a tool, a way to utilize and introduce best practices from the fields of neuroscience, social work, and clinical psychology.
This approach yields impressive outcomes that are measured and tracked through a variety of evaluations. Through the use of student surveys like the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS14), we assess our participants according to specific resiliency indicators and monitor growth in areas such as perseverance, authenticity, and self-reliance as compared to a control group.
Through partner surveys, we know that youth involved in our programs for at least eight days show a 92% increase in responsibility, 94% increase in confidence, and a 92% increase in teamwork. These behavioral improvements lead to a 0.7 increase in GPA and a 65% decrease in in-school disciplinary actions among youth enrolled in our programs.
Published Research
Chicago Voyagers partners with researchers from the Outdoor Behavioral Health Center (OBHC), which is based out of the University of New Hampshire’s College of Health and Human Services to analyze robust data about those we serve. In May 2023, Chicago Voyagers’ Executive Director Bernie Rupe, along with researchers Dr. Christine L. Norton, Dr. Anita Reithoffer Tucker, and Michael Riley were published in the Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership. Their article, Positive Youth Development and Adventure Therapy with Underserved Youth: An Evaluation of the Chicago Voyagers Program, supports the use of adventure therapy for promoting protective factors with underserved youth who face adversity. The findings also suggest that adventure therapy programs should be considered as a way to foster Positive Youth Development among underserved youth who have experienced chronic exposure to trauma. Dr. Norton and Dr. Tucker offered these additional comments about the value of this important research collaboration:
“If you know anything about Bernie Rupe and Chicago Voyagers, you know that they care about excellence and quality, and so, in spite of a global pandemic … they partnered with the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Center to evaluate the efficacy of their amazing program. I hope that this research helps sustain and expand their efforts, as well as provide data for other programs around the world to replicate their efforts.”
“So excited to see the great work of Chicago Voyagers recognized and in press. Seeing this out in the world is so important for the field and other similar organizations.”
Please see below for a brief overview of the lead researchers Dr. Norton and Dr. Tucker.
Christine L. Norton, PhD, LCSW, CCTP
Associate Professor, Texas State University-San Marcos School of Social Work
Graduate Instructor @ Prescott College
Fulbright Senior Scholar, National Taiwan Normal University
AEE Distinguished Researcher of the Year Award, 2017
Edited/author of 13 books and 25 peer reviewed journal articles
Adventure Therapy International Congress United States Delegate and Co-convener
Anita Reithoffer Tucker, PhD, MSW, LICSW
Associate Professor , The University of New Hampshire – Department of Social Work
Associate Director, The Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) Center
Clinical Director, North Star Adventure
Editor and Peer Reviewer for six professional journals.
The Association of Experiential Education (AEE) Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group Chair 2014-2016
The Association of Experiential Education (AEE) Board of Directors
Published 31 articles in peer reviewed journals.
2016 Distinguished Researcher of the Year Award - The Association for Experiential Education
