Psychological Risk Management
Jeff Baierlein
Risk management trainings often address physical safety issues, but pay less attention to psychological stress injury, exclusion, and related harms.
We’ll introduce basic psychological risk management concepts, define psychological safety, explore its connection to equity and inclusion, and introduce general principles of supporting psychological safety. We’ll also look at good practice for psychological first response for acute psychological stress incidents.
Participants will:
- Understand what psychological risk management and psychological safety are
- Understand where psychological risk management and DEI do and do not overlap
- Recognize the value of psychological risk management
- Learn about field steps for supporting psychological safety, including expectation-setting, coaching and training, use of operational structures, and appropriate application of reasonable and related consequences
- Understand how managerial structures (in marketing, enrollment, and program design, among others) support psychological safety
- Learn where they can go for additional training on psychological risk management
About Jeff
Jeff Baierlein has 40 years’ experience as an outdoor professional, ranging from trip leader to Executive Director. Jeff has led alpine mountaineering, sailing, whitewater canoeing, flatwater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, sea kayaking, backpacking, rock climbing, canyoneering and caving trips, including international wilderness expeditions up to three months in length.
Jeff served as Executive Director of the Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound Center and the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education. He has been an expert witness with wilderness program fatalities and complex multi-person incidents in multiple countries. Jeff has conducted risk management reviews with Outward Bound and Viristar, and has provided risk management training to outdoor and adventure professionals in over 80 countries on six continents.
Jeff was certified as a Wilderness EMT in 1993, and has been continuously certified as a National Registry EMT since that time. He has taught wilderness medicine classes in 16 countries and territories on four continents since 1997. Jeff worked for two ambulance services as an EMT, and volunteered with four high-angle, technical and backcountry Search and Rescue teams, leading rescues in North America and Asia.
Jeff holds two undergraduate degrees from Prescott College and a graduate degree from Antioch University. He is a safety advisor for outdoor and adventure programs from East Asia to the Americas, and is the Director of the outdoor and adventure consultancy Viristar LLC.
