Ep.06: Gaining Confidence in the Outdoors

On this episode of Appalachian Outdoorosity, Dr. Becki Battista, a professor in App State's Department of Public Health and Exercise Science, interviews Heidi Campbell of App State's Counseling & Psychological Services Center and Katie Whitley — now with Wake Forest University Counseling Center — about their experiences and advice on how to gain confidence outdoors.

 

 

Transcript

 

Joy James

Welcome to Appalachian Outdoorosity where we encourage you to Get outside and keep going outside. Here we will share Appalachian State stories that entertain, inspire and inform listeners about living an active, outdoor lifestyle. Each episode features a story with the goal to get you outside and keep you going outside to improve your overall wellness.

 

This podcast is presented by the HOPE lab, where our purpose is to investigate the role of outdoor physical activity, exercise, and play on health, the environment, and human development. The vision of the HOPE lab is to continue developing the perfect foundation for promoting and supporting outdoor physical activity, exercise, and play through interdisciplinary research. Feel free to check us out at hopelab.appstate.edu.

 

Hi, my name is Joy James, I am a professor in Recreation Management at Appalachian State University and an outdoor lover. I will be your host today. On this episode we will talk to 2 counselors from the App State Counseling and Psychological Services Center. Outdoorosity team member, Dr. Becki Battista, a professor in exercise science, interviews Heidi Campbell and Katie Whitley who provide more details about their experiences in the outdoors, advice on how to get outside and gain confidence in the outdoors.  

 

 

Becki Battista

I want to welcome and thank you guys for coming to our podcast. So, Heidi Campbell and Katie Whitley are from App State’s Counseling and Psychological Services Center. We’re going to talk about nature and being outside. So, Katie, let's have you go first. Why did you come to App State and what your favorite outdoor activity is?

 

Katie Whitley

Well, it's great to be here. My name is Katie and I am completing my doctoral internship here at App State in the counseling center. So that means I'm working here this year. And I think that what drew me to App State was the outdoors. I've always been someone who loves being outside, loves moving my body, loves being in green mountainous spaces. And my favorite outdoor activity is hiking. So the thought of being able to come here and get this amazing training in psychology and counseling and every weekend, like dragging my partner outside to go hiking, I was like, “That sounds like a perfect combination to me.” So that's definitely what drew me here to App State and I've loved it so far.

 

Becki Battista

Great. Thank you. Yeah, there's lots of places to hike around here. That's, I think, one of the benefits of living in this area. Heidi, how about you? So where are you from? Why did you come to App State and tell us your favorite activity?

 

Heidi Campbell

Hi, everyone. My name is Heidi Campbell and I am a psychologist and staff counselor at the ASU Counseling Center. I am originally from the Pacific Northwest, so I was born in Seattle, but spent very little time there, moved around a lot in and outside of the U.S. and thinking about my connection to the outdoors, I grew up in a family without much television or video games, so my playground, the outdoors really was my playground. And I think I really thank my parents for instilling that in me and I feel like I  spent my childhood outdoors. I came to Boone and App State over 25 years ago to do my graduate work in App’s Psych department and was really drawn to this area because of the environment and all the natural resources. So I am a real avid outdoor enthusiast. I spent a lot of years in New Hampshire. My family landed in New Hampshire after moving seven or eight different places before I got to high school. We lived in a small town in the middle of the White Mountains, it was a ski resort in the winter. So some of my favorite activities… I do love hiking and camping. More recently, I've gotten really into mountain biking. I would say that is probably what I get most excited about. I love skiing. When we get snow and I get to get out. I have some really old cross-country Nordic gear. So one of my favorite things to do is getting together with a group of women and going out and adventuring.

So just the other day I was able to take it out at the Greenway and tromp around in my old cross-country skis. I like going out to our local ski resorts, mountain biking, hiking, trail running. Pretty much anything that gets me out into the woods or wild places.

 

Becki Battista

I think the benefit of being here in Boone is we have four different seasons. A