Climbing Therapy
Climbing therapy is a project that was born in 2021 when psychology met the love of the mountains.
Two psychotherapists (Boldan Cristina & Antal Adela) who volunteered in our organization and who then signed up as club members came up with the idea of a pilot project that allowed a group of disabled children to experience going beyond their own limits, over anxieties and fears, over discomfort. All this experience helped them develop and rediscover themselves.
The first group of 15 children had a dedicated event on July 23, 2021. This event generated a lot of excitement both from the organizers who were doing this for the first time but also from the mountain-loving public. A significant part of the funds received in the form of donations in 2021 came after this pilot event was announced so that we could then propose a repeat of a second event of the same kind towards the end of September of the same year.
The professionalism of the team that took care of this pilot project as well as the versatility of the instructors are elements of great importance in ensuring its success. Each such event is attended by at least 5-6 mountain-loving volunteers, at least 2 professional climbers, and at least 2 psychotherapists.
The program involves special attention paid by the organizers to a unique experience for the children with disabilities in the middle of nature experiencing activities that are completely inaccessible to them in everyday life. These activities often involve sections of sports that may seem extreme to the uninitiated public, but due to the process of going through these activities (supervision by specialized personnel, safety equipment, standardized work procedures), they are safer than legally crossing the street. The sensations and the experience that a child tries in such a program are documented in Western Europe as downright spectacular and inspiring.
The activities focus on a unique experience involving different types of climbing and getting close to the mountain. The therapy sessions can take place both indoors and especially outdoors. For indoor climbing we will use the climbing panels from the local gyms in Oradea. For outdoor activities, we will have several angles of approach both through sessions of approaching the rock from the surface of the water with kayaks in which children will have the opportunity to combine the peaceful walk on the water with the admiration of nature in all its relaxing splendor (forests with fresh air and cliffs which rises majestically directly from the water - Vadu Crişului - Şuncuiuș area) as well as through rock climbing sessions directly in nature. The climbing will initially be done in easier sessions, via ferrata routes more easily accessible for them (the Piticot route in Şuncuiuș specially set up by our club for such activities) but also longer and more difficult via ferrata routes, as well as climbing routes of various degrees of difficulty, many of them arranged by the club in the Vadu Crișului - Şuncuiuș area in its long history of over 40 years.
