Backcountry Behavioral Health
Certifications & Services for Wilderness and Remote Settings
Clinically grounded, field-adapted training that equips outdoor and remote operators and adventerers to understand, recognize, assess, and respond to behavioral health in remote and wilderness environments.
Fri, Oct 23The MountaineersBackcountry Behavioral Health Aider dives deep into the full spectrum of behavioral health through applied learning, practical tools, and scenario-based training to equip understanding and actionable tools to manage behavioral health for those in remote environments.
Fri, Oct 30Mountain View Grange #98Backcountry Behavioral Health Responder dives comprehensively into the full spectrum of behavioral health through applied learning, practical tools, and scenario-based training to equip understanding and actionable tools to manage behavioral health for those in remote environments.
At Grove Institute, we are helping build the emerging field of Backcountry Behavioral Health (BBH): the intersection of behavioral health, human performance, and safety in remote and wilderness settings around the world.
Our work is written by behavioral health clinicians who are also outdoor guides and instructors, with remote and wilderness medical training, including Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification. We know the clinic and we know the field, and we built BBH because the two have rarely been brought together.
The missing piece of wilderness medicine
The outdoors can be a powerful space for healing, resilience, and connection. But remote environments can also amplify stress, trauma, conflict, substance use, mental health crises, burnout, and risk. Behavioral health directly shapes decision-making, leadership, communication, group dynamics, and safety in the field. Even so, it remains largely absent from outdoor education, wilderness medicine, and remote operations.
Backcountry Behavioral Health is the missing integration of behavioral health into wilderness medicine. It goes beyond managing stress. It gives people a working clinical understanding of behavioral health so they can truly help the people they are with in the outdoors.
Why get BBH certified?
A growing share of backcountry incidents involve behavioral health, whether as the cause, a contributing factor, or the aftermath. Grounding techniques like box breathing matter. But wilderness medicine doesn’t stop at teaching you to give epinephrine. It teaches you what anaphylaxis is doing in the body and why epinephrine reverses it. Behavioral health deserves the same depth.
BBH certification gives you a clinical understanding of behavioral health conditions so you can recognize, manage, and support them, both before a trip and in the field.
What we offer:
Through books, trainings, certifications, and educational resources, Grove Institute develops practical tools for:
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everyday adventurers
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trip leaders
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wilderness medicine providers
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guides
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search and rescue personnel
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anyone who lives, operates, or works in remote settings
These tools help them better understand and navigate behavioral health in the outdoors.
Our work is grounded in science, trauma-informed practice, public health, and real-world field experience. Psychological safety is inseparable from physical safety, and healthier outdoor systems begin with understanding human behavior, wherever adventure takes us.
Training & Certifications
Our Backcountry Behavioral Health trainings are built around three core areas:
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Understanding the Terrain — understanding human behavior, neuroscience, stress, trauma, and why behavioral responses exist
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Mapping the Mind — recognizing behavioral health conditions, crisis presentations, and risk in remote settings
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Navigating the Storm — building practical response, leadership, stabilization, communication, and post-incident support skills
Together, these three areas provide a framework for understanding, recognizing, and responding to behavioral health challenges in wilderness and remote environments.
Backcountry Behavioral Health Overview
1-Hour Training | Non-Certification
A brief introduction to the core concepts of Backcountry Behavioral Health. Participants receive an overview of the three primary training areas and explore how behavioral health impacts safety, leadership, decision-making, communication, and group dynamics in remote and wilderness settings.
Backcountry Behavioral Health Foundations Series
Three 60–90 Minute Seminars | Non-Certification
A deeper educational series that expands on each of the three core areas of Backcountry Behavioral Health.
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Understanding the Terrain explores neuroscience, brain structure, stress, trauma, evolution, and the foundations of human behavior.
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Mapping the Mind in the Outdoors focuses on recognizing behavioral health conditions, cognitive changes, distress, dysfunction, and danger in remote environments.
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Navigating the Storm introduces practical behavioral health response concepts including prevention, preparation, stabilization, communication, and post-incident support.
Participants build foundational behavioral health literacy and field recognition skills for outdoor and remote settings.
Backcountry Behavioral Health Aider (BBHA)
1-Day Certification | 8 Hours
Our first certification-level training, the Backcountry Behavioral Health Aider course dives deeper into all three core areas through applied learning, practical tools, and scenario-based training. Participants develop stronger skills in behavioral health recognition, assessment, grounding, stabilization, communication, suicide awareness, and field response in wilderness and remote environments.
This course prepares participants to aid individuals and groups experiencing behavioral health challenges in outdoor and remote settings while strengthening safety, leadership, and decision-making skills under stress.
Comparable in scope to Wilderness First Aid (WFA).
An advanced certification designed to provide a deeper understanding of Backcountry Behavioral Health and advanced response skills for wilderness and remote environments. Each training day is dedicated to one of the three core sections: Understanding the Terrain, Mapping the Mind in the Outdoors, and Navigating the Storm.
Participants develop advanced skills in behavioral health assessment, crisis response, leadership, suicide intervention, group regulation, prevention planning, stabilization, communication, and post-incident support. The course emphasizes trauma-informed leadership, neuroscience-based response, and practical field application for guides, trip leaders, wilderness medicine providers, search and rescue personnel, and remote operators.
Comparable in scope to Wilderness First Responder (WFR).
Backcountry Behavioral Health Responder (BBHR)
3-Day Certification | 24 Hours
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
My favorite part was delving into tools that we could take home. I definitely learned strategies that I hadn't thought of before.
Kallie Kurtz is an excellent speaker and is very knowledgeable about mental health in all its aspects. She is energetic, has a great sense of humor, and was a pleasure to listen to. Yay!
Was not expecting so much rich content. Really gave one a lot to think about before jumping into a situation without considering other variables that could be important.
Backcountry Behavioral Health in the Wild
Upcoming Presentations
