Being in nature, surrounded by trees, breathing fresh air, and getting sun light as all been proven to improve mental health. The wilderness can be a beautiful place, however without proper training and knowledge, it can also be a source of anxiety and fear.

Our intent is to provide the skills you will need to be confident, if you find yourself unexpectedly in the wilderness, that you can not only survive, but thrive.

Finding yourself isolated from the conveniences of modern life, it is paramount to know what your true basic needs are and how to fulfill them. We believe Maslow was right with his hierarchy for your mental health and to thrive, but before you can do that you need to survive.

The principles for survival are concentrated on 5 basic needs:

Health, Personal Protection, Sustenance, Navigation/Travel, Signaling/Recovery

p.s. the skills and knowledge from these courses also make you look cool in most every situation.

Mental and Physical health are paramount to any survival situation. A huge step towards positive mental health is feeling properly prepared for emergency situations which is exactly what these courses are designed for.

Physical health can be adversely affected by bad mental health which is why mental health is covered first. After that it is important to ensure you treat any injuries to the best of your ability and skill level and attempt to prevent injuries while separated from medical treatment facilities.

During this course we talk about the most common injuries that occur during a survival/isolation event (bleeding, strains/sprains/fractures, burns, etc.) and how to treat them with minimal or no medical supplies.

Broken down into different categories:

Clothing: This is the first layer of protection against the environment. Understanding appropriate materials and items for different environment. How to layer properly and care for your clothing items to ensure they last as long as possible which is crucial in a survival situation.

Shelter: Knowing how to build an adequate shelter in any environment can mean the difference between life and death. We teach several different types of shelter. Immediate action is using whatever you have or find to get out of a harsh environment as fast as possible.

Fire: Light, heat, defense, security, moral, fire is of vital importance to a survivor. We cover the basics on how to start and maintain a fire. Primary methods taught for staring fires is the ferro (magnesium) rod, however primitive methods are also discussed and demonstrated based on time and skill level.

Equipment: A survivor never knows how long they will have to wait until rescued, therefore caring for your equipment is a must. We discuss different equipment one may want to pack in a survival kit and Venturers will have the opportunity to try a variety of items commonly found in commercial survival kits. The time to find out a piece of equipment is inadequate is not when your life depends on it.

This covers Food and Water. How to find, filter, and purify water to make it safe for consumption in many different ways (chemical, mechanical, natural). How to identify plants that can be used as food sources and how to identify sources of protein, edible insects as well as how to track, hunt and or trap animals in the wild.

Whether you need to effect your own rescue or you need to look for more resources, navigation is a crucial skill. We cover GPS, Map and Compass, as well as basic Celestial Navigation

During any survival situation it is important to have small obtainable goals. However, the ultimate goal is to get home. We discuss and practice multiple types of signals, fire, electronic, Ground-to-Air, Ground-to-Ground, any way to get the attention of search parties and/or anyone in the area to alert them of you emergency.