An avid outdoorsman and sporting guide, Ian Cameron has always known the therapeutic benefits of the natural world. Whether standing knee-deep in a river, casting a fly to a rising trout, or navigating a crowded raft through a set of rapids, he appreciates the soothing qualities of flowing water and its power to drain the stresses right out of a person.

A couple of years ago, while working as a family therapist for an Ellsworth social-service agency, Cameron decided to combine his love of fly-fishing with his counseling career. His clients were children at risk of being removed from their homes, or those who already were in the hands of the Department of Human Services and needed to be reunited with their families. For family members looking to better communicate with one another, Cameron thought, a fishing trip could be an ideal setting in which to counsel them through the differences that had torn them apart while also showing them a heck of a good time. With fellow therapist Tom Hansen, Cameron expanded his novel counseling methods to include other forms of outdoor recreation, such as white-water rafting, sea kayaking and camping. Called Rivertherapy, the nonprofit organization now provides a windswept alternative to therapy sessions typically conducted within the confines of four walls and a clock.

“We like to say it offers playful solutions to life’s problems,” Cameron said recently. “Our goal is to promote positive change in families through the sharing of challenges and enjoyable experiences that make memories for everyone. Let’s face it, even with the rain and the bugs out there, it’s impossible to not have a good time on a river.”

What makes Rivertherapy different from other outdoor-based therapy programs, he said, is that the entire family is brought into the scenic setting.

“There are many wilderness-therapy programs that are geared to the adolescent,” he said. “A troubled kid goes off to the woods and, through the challenges he faces, builds his self-esteem and comes back a different person. But the family he comes back to is the same, and the old problems resurface. So we try to change the communication patterns within the family as a whole, and provide a relaxing setting that allows them to understand one another better.”

Last year, Cameron and Hansen conducted a fishing-as-therapy session on the West Branch of the Penobscot River for eight male members of a family – fathers and sons, uncles and cousins. Two of the boys, kids with special needs, quickly discovered the joys of fishing for the first time. Their father, who had never cared much for fishing, joined his sons in their newly acquired passion and was able to share a level of intimacy that had been sorely missing among them. The same happened with a college student, whose all-night carousing had caused a rift between him and his father. Once the counselors had taught him how to tie and cast his own flies, the young man fell in love with the sport. His father, who had never known his son to focus on anything so intently, found a healthy new avenue of communication that he never knew existed. The unique streamside therapy was also successful, Cameron said, in helping a couple to bridge the personality differences that had been making them hesitant to commit to each other in marriage.

Cameron knows there are Mainers out there who would scoff at the idea of a fishing guide who offers to teach a family proper casting skills and conflict resolution at the same time.

“Families who don’t have problems certainly don’t need us to take them fishing,” he said with a laugh. “But we see this as a backdoor way of offering therapy to those who do need our help. What better setting is there for a family than the outdoors, with all its mesmerizing beauty? Instead of meeting in a room for 50 minutes, on the river we have all day and half the night if we need it.”