We are a team of educators, consultants, guides, and facilitators united by our passion for intentional living and working. Our goal is to empower individuals to nurture respectful and compassionate relationships with themselves, the environment, and our local/global communities. Our primary focus is to inspire people to expand their horizons, pose thought-provoking questions, and cultivate the confidence and self-awareness necessary to be genuine in a world that often challenges individuality. Through collaborations with educators, we design customized programs, devise strategies, policies, and systems to enhance the growth and success of their people and their institutions. Our dedication lies in forming authentic, empathetic connections with everyone we are privileged to work with.
Founded in 2000 with a strong belief in nature as an exceptional classroom, we initially began as a canoe tripping company. Over the past twenty-four years, we have diversified our offerings while staying committed to our core principles. Central to our values are community, gratitude, genuine connections, empathy, trust, active listening, self-efficacy, courage, and the enriching experiences that push individuals to explore their full potential. In a society increasingly dependent on screens and devices, we strive to help individuals recognize that their most valuable assets are their relationships.
Our Educational Philosophy
ALIVE’s educational philosophy is grounded in the theory of experiential education and is implemented in the programs we run through our four-stage experiential learning model. Our global and technologically driven society pushes us all to do more while leaving many people lacking balance in their lives. In response, ALIVE programs focus on personal strengths and character development to empower learnings to better navigate school, work and life for personal and professional happiness and well-being.
Philosophy of Risk in Education
We live in a culture that breeds fear and drives us towards playing “safe.” It is our opinion that many people are not encouraged to tap into their inner courage reserves and embrace their potential. During all of our ALIVE Outdoors programs, students are deliberately encouraged to take part in activities involving unfamiliar risks that are not part of their daily lives. Our goal is to use perceived and real risks as teaching tools to enhance self-confidence, deepen self-awareness and resiliency, as well as to strengthen each community’s foundation. We want people to recognize their strengths and to challenge their assumptions about themselves and others. We believe that there are risks associated with not taking risks in our lives, and that many people reflect back on their life wishing they had more experiences where they stepped out of their comfort zone. We design programs to help students expand their comfort zones to confront new challenges.
Beyond the Screen
In-Camp Programs
ALIVE uses a number of different outdoor centres and camps to facilitate our in-camp programs where a sense of community is deepened through a variety of activities and workshops no matter the season. From canoeing and kayaking to winter Quinzee sleep outs and cross country skiing, our in-camp programs help students push their comfort zones, and deepen their understanding of self and unique strengths. Designed around our cycle of experiential education, we work hard at ensuring that students leave their camp experience with transferable lessons that can be used in their everyday lives.
Canoe Trip Programs
Structured time experiencing nature provides students the opportunities to slow down and reconnect with themselves, their peers and the natural world. ALIVE facilitates canoe trips and camping experiences that take students into the Canadian Wilderness to help them grow and build life-long relationships and memories. Our canoe trips regularly travel through wilderness areas such as Algonquin Provincial Park and Temagami.
Global Learning Programs
A tour is predictable, a journey is unexpected. We travel to challenge our assumptions, gain tools to form relationships, think critically about global problems and break out of our routines by exploring the many different ways to live a life. These journeys are not predictable, rather offer moments of imperfection where deep learning can occur.
Consulting & Training
We regularly perform audits and help our clients design and achieve comprehensive and adaptable risk management planning across their organization. In 2020, we celebrated 20 years of experiential programming. Let us use this depth of knowledge to deliver a custom experiential training for your school or organization. We regularly conduct professional development trainings on positive psychology, community building, character development, risky play, and much more.
Meet Our Leadership Team
A professional community dedicated to excellence in education.
The true essence and foundation of ALIVE is our instructor community. They are mentors, guides, educators, caregivers, role models, risk managers and metaphorical gardeners who plant seeds of authenticity within the students and each other. Among many other things, their role is to foster an environment where people feel they belong, where they feel heard, seen, understood, valued and where they can make a meaningful contribution through the expression of their strengths, allowing a deeper sense of self awareness to emerge.
Instructors are committed to bringing the same engaging energy, fun, feedback and teachable moments to each session as they would at camp or on canoe trip.
“Finding the correct balance of patience and understanding, while striving to motivate, challenge, and inspire teenagers can be a daunting task, but the leaders from ALIVE possess an innate charisma that always leaves our students feeling at ease and empowered. Whether in group discussion circles, on the high ropes course, or during skill sessions in the canoes, the ALIVE team are fabulous at engaging our students and helping them learn the importance of facing one’s own challenges while simultaneously being an active and contributing member of their communities”
– Hillfield Strathallan College Faculty Member