An AAC member gives back to his community after receiving the Live Your Dream Grant.

Grassroots: Unearthing the Future of Climbing

By: Sierra McGivney

There is nothing like watching the sunrise over the mountains, the whole world still sleeping. Pinks and deep oranges color the sky. On clear and quiet days, the temperature is coldest near or slightly after sunrise. Warm coffee, hot chocolate, or tea is always welcome during this time.

After years inside, these moments feel more special. All the lives lost and time stolen because of the pandemic make time spent outside invaluable to begin healing. At Mountain Goat Movement (MGM), explorers and teachers show students moments like these and the value of nature through outdoor adventures.

*Morrisey speaking at the AAC’s Annual Benefit Gala in 2018.*

For ten years, Greg Morrisey was a high school teacher at Saint Peter’s Preparatory in Jersey City, NJ. He spent the school year building an outdoor education program and the summer going on expeditions. In 2017 Morrisey won the American Alpine Club’s Live Your Dream Grant and completed an unsupported 1,800-mile cycling trip with one of his fellow teachers. In addition, that expedition raised $40,000 for low-income students to come on trips with Morrisey’s outdoor education program.

“That funded about 15 kids, and it was kind of crazy,” says Morrisey.

Morrisey was asked to speak at the AAC’s Annual Gala alongside Vanessa O'Brien that year. The grant changed his life.

In June of 2022, Morrisey quit teaching. He took the model he created at Saint Peter’s Preparatory and turned it into Mountain Goat Movement, a program that reaches out to schools primarily in populated cities or suburban areas in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland, to get students into the outdoors.

*Two MGM participants in the Adirondacks, New York. PC: AAC Member Greg Morrisey*

“It's easy in Colorado, Wyoming, and Upstate New York to just walk out your backyard, and go for a beautiful hike, but it's difficult in the greater New York City area so we're trying to rally a community to get in the outdoors and provide resources for anyone and everyone who wants to experience the beauty of nature,” says Morrisey.

After teaching during COVID-19, Morrisey realized how fractured life was for young people. Students have been on an island these past couple of years and reintegrating into school and society has been a shock to their system.

Like the true literature teacher he is, Morrisey explains that outdoor adventures are much like the hero’s tale in Western Literature. A young person goes out on an epic quest, leaving their comfort zone, to battle figurative monsters and demons and comes home transformed. Morrisey gives presentations at school about the mental health benefits that can be derived from spending time in nature. He compares it to the hero's journey: Wherever you are, high school or college, you are not that much different than the characters you are reading about.

*A MGM group on the summit of Kilimanjaro.*

Unlike Outward Bound or NOLS where participants rarely see their guides again, MGM brings the student’s teachers on the trip. The idea behind MGM is to build connections outdoors and be able to bring that back to the classroom instead of having a one-off trip. In addition, Morrisey hopes that this can also start a conversation about mental health in the classroom and how venturing into the outdoors can benefit mental health for people of all ages. Morrisey goes on every trip to train the student’s teachers with the hope that they can lead their own trips using this model.

“I think when you're on an expedition or a multi-day experience, and you break bread with people, share tents, hike, and do everything together, it's inevitable that you're going to become close,” says Morrisey. “So taking that experience and then coming back home and building off that is the most beautiful part of all this.”

Students who might not have ever talked or met suddenly have bonded with one another and become lifelong friends.

Last July, Morrisey took a group to Kilimanjaro. His whole group summited and watched the sunrise from the top. Everyone cried. Evidently, the softer moments in the outdoors allow for meaningful relationships to form.

“It's been a very rewarding process of working with young people in the outdoors and teaching kids how to climb, hike, ski, and get outside,” says Morrisey.

Participants don’t have to travel out of the country to have these experiences. Mountain Goat Movement offers domestic trips like climbing the Grand Teton or hiking all 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. They do also offer an extensive amount of international trips to Kilimajaro, Costa Rica, and the Himalayas.

The name behind MGM is intentional. Mountain goats are always trying to seek higher ground to survive. And just like mountain goats, whenever MGM takes participants outside, they try to achieve something higher within themselves while also respecting and protecting the land they tread on. Movement relates to being present outside, off your phone, and also moving as a community.

The positive effects of this type of program are evident. Morrisey has seen participants who came up through his program become ice climbers, environmental scientists, and AAC members, but most of all more confident explorers and adventurers in the outdoors and in life.

“[the AAC] has always been super supportive and one of the reasons why we're able to start the foundation was because of the Live Your Dream grant, so I feel like the AAC has just done absolute wonders for a lot of kids in New York City without them actually realizing it,” says Morrisey.

He is excited to expand and watch MGM grow. John Barnhardt, a filmmaker known for the Amazon Prime TV Show Born to Explore is joining MGM. He will be documenting their experiences on all seven continents for the next year. Morrisey is looking forward to having him join the team and help get the word out.

Just like mountain goats, we too can learn and adapt to our environment, mentally and physically. Movement in the outdoors has immense benefits. If you want to get involved or go on a trip with MGM visit their website here.

What is therapy? What is a therapist supposed to do? How do you find one? How do you know if you need one? How do you know if yours is any good? Societal stigma around mental health makes the answers to these questions difficult to find.

And yet, mental health is slowly making its way into the mainstream conversation in climbing communities. It’s coming up around death, loss, trauma, risk—all in some ways inherently tied to the particular experience of climbing. It’s also coming up around more insidious, silent struggles like body image, performance, depression, and anxiety. What’s not yet mainstream is how or when to engage in therapy, or conversations about what exactly therapy is.

I often talk with people about how to find a therapist, choose a therapist, or where to start with therapy. This list of thoughts is a summary of those conversations, with special thought given to climbers and the climbing community. I think the climbing community has an inherent advantage in addressing mental health, in that it is such a community.

I have, in no other domain of my life, walked up to a stranger and so easily become their friend. The stoke, the excitement, the welcoming energy is overwhelming. And yet, we still suffer. We suffer the same as anyone else, and in some ways, uniquely, as a result of risks we’re willing to take to experience the wild, boundless joy of climbing.

I know about the wild, boundless joy. And, as a therapist, I know about the darker, shadow-side of things. Climbers, in my experience, also have access to an extraordinary range of emotional experience—from the darkest shadows and doubts to the most profound delight. Therapy can expand and restore access to this range. It can alleviate suffering and open new mental space for connection and relationships. It can help you be more present and authentic in your life.

What is Therapy?

At its core, therapy is a relationship. The relationship can be between a therapist and a client, or a therapist and several clients in a group. It can look really different, depending on the setting and the people involved. What happens in therapy, too, can look really different. But the main idea is that through this relationship, you develop a space where you can explore yourself—your identities, experiences, and relationships—and through this exploration, grow and change. Sometimes this change is necessary because of pain or suffering, and sometimes it’s voluntary. Sometimes therapy is incited by a traumatic event or loss. Sometimes someone wants a change, or feels something is off in their relationships. Sometimes people struggle making decisions or don’t feel that they don’t know themselves. There are infinite reasons to seek therapy, and none is inappropriate or wrong.

What is a Therapist?

Think of your therapist as your mental belayer. A therapist is your partner, your supporter. Their job is to help you, and even though they’re a person in their own right, during the process of therapy, you are their focus. They can’t climb for you, or even really with you, but they can make sure you don’t fall too far. A key part of therapy is trusting your therapist, which is why choosing one matters. This doesn’t mean you’ll like them all the time, or that they’ll never disappoint you, but the strength of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes. So find someone with whom you feel a genuine connection, for whatever reason that might be.

You Get to Choose Your Therapist

This may seem obvious, but it’s incredibly important, and in times of stress or pain, it’s easily overshadowed by other things. You always have agency in your own mental health. This agency begins with choosing a therapist, and continues in every session. Don’t like the way things are going? Say something. Feel uncomfortable? Mention it. This is often easier said than done because of the power dynamics in therapist/client relationships, but that’s why it’s worth reiterating. Hopefully, in an effort to address this dynamic, your therapist will ask you if it’s going okay and provide opportunities for you to give feedback. If you still feel like it’s not a good fit, find another therapist. That’s totally okay.

Read Beneath Their Profile

Therapists write blurblettes about themselves for potential clients to find, and many of them are similar. We’re all required to meet more or less the same training standards, etc., so if someone is a therapist, chances are they’re going to have a lot in common with other therapists. Except we’re all individuals, too. Search for that individuality. In what field was their undergraduate degree? Do they say anything else about themselves? Would it change something if you knew they shared some axis of your identity? Finding a provider through the Climbing Grief Fund is a great example. At baseline, you know they know something about climbing. Things like that can be important points of connection, and can help you feel safe and understood.

Ask for a Consultation

Since fit matters so much, ask to talk to several therapists in a more casual way before starting work together. It’s very often a free service and can give you a lot of information. Talking to more than one can help you start to suss out the differences if you’ve got no idea what you want in a therapist.

Think About What You Want Therapy to Be

Therapy is very rarely a back and forth exchange of sequential childhood traumas and silent, thoughtful Mhms. Sometimes it is, but often not. Therapy is collaborative and generative and exploratory. It’s about curiosity and fantasy and possibility. Thinking ahead of time about what it is you’d like to get out of therapy, even if it’s a simple or vague idea, can be useful in directing the work. Maybe you don’t want to think about ____ anymore, or you feel lonely. The answer to this question might be obvious, or it might not. Either way, it can help you in your search for a therapist, especially if you’re looking for something in particular, like someone who specializes in grief or anxiety or postpartum issues.

Be Prepared—Therapy Will be Work

Therapy, healing, progress, change, growth. However you want to think of what it is you’re working toward in therapy, it’s probably going to be hard. You may feel worse before you feel better. The most rewarding projects often progress this way, too. This is why you need your therapist to be the most psyched and supportive mental-belayer ever. In the rough moments, they’ll make sure you don’t quit.

What If I Can’t Afford It

This is a real question. Insurance and media portrayals often make access to therapy seem like a luxury, but caring for your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physical health, and there are affordable options.

If you have insurance, call and talk to someone about how your benefits apply to therapy (they often call it mental health or behavioral health). There may even be some reimbursement if your therapist is out of network.

If you don’t have insurance, many out-of-pocket providers offer sliding scale fees based on income, and some community mental health centers offer even more affordable sliding scale options. Group therapy can also be a cheaper option—it’s is a super cool, lesser-known modality of treatment where you get to do your own work supported by a group, and witness and support the work of others. Finding these resources may take some research, but they are out there.

And if it’s just financially impossible to spend any money on therapy right now, that’s okay too. Many communities offer 12 step programs. These meetings are always free and often frequent, and though the model is based on recovery from substance use, the recovery-oriented principals have been applied to lots of different mental health challenges like depression and anxiety.

I’d also still recommend thinking about what it is you want to work on, and searching for books or other free resources. The CGF has some psychoeducation here and resources here, and there are others, gathered by the practice where I work, here.

Outside of any treatment, you can take care of yourself in small, everyday ways that impact your emotional wellbeing. You can climb, eat well, and sleep. You can make small changes. You can sit in the sun, have a dance party, forgive yourself. You can do whatever moves you. You can seek out human connection that feels authentic, and ask others for help when you need it.

There is Nothing Wrong With You

For anyone seeking therapy: there is nothing wrong with you. Humans struggle. Being alive is complicated, unexpected, and sometimes painful. We are all impacted by our environment and our relationships. Feeling as though one needs help is not a sign of weakness. Vulnerability is not a sign of weakness. Thinking you might need therapy is not evidence of impairment. We all need support sometimes.

Climb Hard and Feel As Much As You Can

I sincerely believe it’s possible to do both.

Anna Kim has a Masters in Social Work from Smith College and is currently an Associate Psychotherapist at Kindman & Co. in Los Angeles, CA where she is supervised by Paul Kindman, LMFT. She’s also a climber, thru-hiker, and general adventurer—with a particular love of slab. Send her an email at [email protected]

Mountain Goat Movement

Honest Thoughts About Therapy as a Climber