An Interview with Fletcher Holst—California State University, Monterey Bay
About Fletcher Holst
My name is Fletcher Holst and I am a junior at Cal State Monterey Bay,
and an Environmental Science, Technology, and Policy major with an
Outdoor Recreation and Education minor. I have worked for the
Outdoor Recreation department on campus for one year now.
You attended the 2014 AORE Annual Conference, was this your
first year at the conference?
This was the first time I attended an AORE conference.
As a student, what was the most valuable part of your conference
experience?
As a student, the most valuable part of the conference was the Stacy Bare keynote speech. Hearing that keynote
definitely shaped my entire outlook of the conference and my program back on campus.
What did you take away from the conference experience?
I took away from the conference that there was still a lot of work to be done at our campus program; especially with
accessibility across the board.
Post-conference, you and your fellow student staff created an opportunity for a free certification in mental health first
aid on campus. What prompted you to take action in that way?
What prompted me to take action was not only the keynote speech, but the seminars where other organizations gave
stories of participants that had a mental health issue that arose during the event or trip. This made me aware that
CSUMB Outdoor Leaders had no training or understanding of how to handle a situation involving someone undergoing a
mental health issue on one of our trips
You reached out to your fellow student trip leaders to encourage their participation in mental health first aid on
campus, communicating that, “this is a great opportunity for a certification that can be looked at very well in the
future. With the growth of understanding in mental health, the outdoor recreation industry has been facilitating
programs for those with health problems including veterans, troubled youth.” Would you recommend that this kind of
certification become standard for all trip leaders?
I would definitely recommend that this kind of certification for all trip leaders not only in our program here at Cal State
Monterey Bay, but for anyone who plans to lead others in the outdoors.
Why is mental health awareness important in the outdoor profession?
Mental health awareness is important in the outdoor profession because the wilderness and outdoors are an amazing
place of healing. People from all walks of life are returning to the wilderness as a place to reconnect and escape. As
someone in the profession of outdoor recreation and education, the understanding of what to expect and how to
address potential participant and students issues should be a priority, especially for the safety and growth of all
participants.
This was a great learning outcome and take-away from the conference. You applied your learning from the conference
to your own program. Do you have any tips for how other students can apply conference education to their programs
post-conference? Is there a good process you can share, related to post-conference outcomes?
I’d say the best tip I can give would be to branch out to other organizations on your campus, because often times there
are resources you never thought were available until you ask. A good process I’d recommend is sharing a quality debrief
with those who attended the conference and then a quality briefing with other members of your organization. That way,
you can collect your initial takeaways from the conference, and then display those takeaways in a constructive way that
the entire organization can utilize.
How can students apply this to their own learning and education?
Students can apply this to their own personal learning and education through the knowledge and awareness that this
training provides students. Students will not only be able to identify mental health problems that may arise amongst
their peers, but also gain an empathetic approach to those with mental health issues.
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