Indigenous Instructor Development Program
Rocky Mountain

Is this course right for me?

This course is for those looking for an opportunity to apply their leadership skills, cultural background and passion for the natural world into a rewarding career. Previous backpacking experience is not necessary, however applicants should be motivated to build on their technical ability and group management skills, to prepare for being in the role of instructor. Previous experience in leadership and education is an asset.

 Working with students and mentoring them through a wilderness journey is incredibly rewarding. If this is the kind of challenge you are looking for, the Indigenous Instructor Development Program is the perfect opportunity to launch your career as an outdoor educator and trip leader. Participants will be assessed on their development throughout the course. 

AREA & ACTIVITIES:

This course travels through an area of the rocky mountain foothills called the Ya Ha Tinda. After a welcome to this territory, you will learn more about your fellow participants and prepare to set off into the backcountry.

Curriculum includes:

• Travel over various terrain such as steep slopes, scree, and river crossings
• Techniques for teaching social-emotional learning
• Risk assessment and management including wildlife, weather, terrain, student abilities
• Backcountry camping skills including tarp and tent set up, use of camping stove and backcountry cooking using a ration system, fire building, camp site selection, knots
• Management of group dynamics and student behaviour
• Expedition planning
• Navigation with a map, compass, and GPS as well as route finding on and off trail  
• Facilitation of briefings and debriefs
• Educational skills including how to make lesson plans and lessons in technical skills, decision making, giving and receiving feedback, leadership styles
• Leadership skills appropriate to guiding a group in the wilderness.
• Supporting and understanding needs of diverse populations
• Teaching and learning from the cultures of your peers
• An assessment of what your next steps are in pursuing employment with OBC

YOUR INNER JOURNEY

Outward Bound Canada’s courses are designed to provide an opportunity to “Get Out, Look In”. Each experience begins with a physical journey – stepping out of the comforts of day-to-day routines and into an environment that may be very new, adventurous and exciting, but also foreign and uncertain. Facing these changes helps to bring out new perspectives. 

Instructors take advantage of the unique environment to create space for students to take time for themselves, to reflect on their journey and its relevance to their life back home, as well as facilitated group discussions that allow for processing of the experience with peers going through the same process. Through this, students are able to apply their learnings from the course to other areas of their life after the course is over.

SOLO

Every Outward Bound Canada course incorporates a solo experience. This includes up to 48 hours in a secluded spot, where each student is responsible for setting up their shelter and taking time for self-reflection. Instructors close enough to offer support if needed. This is not a challenge of survival in the wilderness, but rather a supported environment to take time for oneself, away from the distractions of everyday life. While this may at first seem like a daunting challenge for some students, it is often an incredibly impactful aspect of the course, as it provides a unique opportunity that very few people ever get to experience – being alone in nature. This is a valuable element of the course in preparing to transfer learnings to life at home, and being present with the intimate experience of interacting with the land.