Words don’t teach, experience teaches
"What The Next Level creates with their experiences translates brilliantly into our challenges in daily life. Their activities, challenges, their masterfully executed exercises all point to learning that we can apply in personal and professional contexts. They create a safe, stimulating and entirely elegant process for people to learn about themselves, about others and the world. Their processes and facilitation of these processes evoke transformation. To me, nothing was more powerful than realizing that it is me and my internal limiting beliefs about myself and others that holds me back - not the height of the ladder, not the width of the rungs. In one activity, they bust a lifelong belief and free us to create from possibility. In a day, they provoke new and unforgettable perspectives about what it is to be alive and playing full out with our bodies and hearts."
Dorothy Greenaway
Toronto, Ontario
Corporate | Therapeutic | Youth | Relationships | Groups
The magic of a ropes course is not about physicality or heights. It is about discovering what is possible. To discover what is possible involves moving beyond what we think is possible. Discovery requires presence and action. Action engages people. When people are fully engaged they are present. There are different levels of presence – mentally, emotionally, physically, energetically. The more levels you can engage someone, the more present they are and the more opportunity they have to integrate and retain the learning.
They have the chance to discover for themselves what is real and what is made up. When they discover that they can choose to behave differently.
To us at The Next Level a ropes course, while fun, is not a trip to Disneyland.
It is an opportunity to discover and experience what it is to be truly present in your life. The distractions of our day to day world whether internal or external fall away. For many you get to see and experience yourself, others and the world differently. You have the opportunity to increase awareness, reinforce and integrate positive behaviors.
We hold everyone with compassion and passion. We challenge and accept everyone where they are. The result is magic.
The value of ropes course use is recognized in a broad range of activities, including education, recreation, therapy, and organizational development. Ropes Courses are often used in conjunction with other forms of training or education, such as in physical education, in orientation programs, and for staff development. Ropes Challenge Courses can be used with school students through to adults and are readily adaptable to a wide variety of cultures, settings, and people with different abilities.
My testimonial - with gratitude: "Hanging by the seat of my bosses pants, and pulling myself up to balance upon a high wire, transformed our relationship. Time and again since, as the success of our internal corporate project seemed to approach impossible, we've been able to galvanize our courage often referring to this moment; by knowing and appreciating our capacity, we've proceeded in a chaotic environment with a great deal of success. Looking back, in all likelihood I would have given up on him, and he upon me, without the relationship that we grounded in friendship and trust while 40 feet up in the air. To "approach the impossible" and succeed is a great feeling; yet to honestly experience that "you and me together can do this!" is an attitude that will continually come to bear individually and as a team, on our hopes for greatness. The staff at The Next Level not only hold out the hope, but have helped us realize it."
Camilla Rogers
Berkeley, California
Corporate
Ropes courses take teams out of their comfort zones, the roles and hierarchies that separate us. They not only level the playing field, they connect and focus the group. In our normal workdays we are rarely fully present and engaged. We multi-task or are part of long projects with intermittent interaction. On a ropes course we create short projects- creating a structure, getting a team from point A to B without touching the ground, in a short time frame, then look at what worked or didn’t. Teams quickly see how their normal behaviors either contribute or detract from success. By experiencing and learning together they create an experience from which to reference and build future positive behaviors.
Therapeutic
One of the hardest things in therapeutic and recovery work is to establish new healthy patterns of behavior. One of the primary benefits of ropes courses for individuals is when they accomplish/experience/surprise themselves by doing something they would not normally have thought possible. Positive experiences help build confidence and healthy behaviors that can be transferred to their daily lives.
A common quote at the end of a ropes course day is: "I learned more about recovery today than in 9 months of working the program."
Youth
Young people learn by doing. In doing they experience themselves as powerful and meaningful. We engage youth in learning by letting them discover what they can do and thereby be their best selves.
"The youth and staff at Pivotal Point Youth Services, Inc. have been coming to the Next Level Ropes Course annually for three years now. As the founding Director of Pivotal Point I have found the activities and group exercises quite inspirational. I have noticed a marked change in behavior with the youth who attend the rope course compared to those who do not attend. The youth who attend Next Level gain a greater sense of personal strength, self-control, able to communicate thoughts and feelings better, able to take on more responsibilities and leadership roles with ease and seem to be more motivated to achieve success in life. We just love Tom. He is AWESOME! We found Tom to be patient, challenging when necessary and then surprisingly therapeuticJ. I would highly recommend all youth agencies to attend the ropes for a retreat; it will make a huge difference in the way the youth engage with each other and the world around them."
La Tronda Lumpkins, MSW
Founding Director
Pivotal Point Youth Services, Inc.
Oakland, CA
Relationships
Being in relationship whether romantic, business or as friends is at the core of how we see ourselves and interact in the world. Over time we lose the initial dream of the perfection and potential that we saw in others. We help you remember not only that initial dream, but how to give and receive support to and from each other. We can help you design language that helps you see, accept and support one another.
I want to send a huge Thank You for a powerful and wonderful day on the ropes course. You set a perfect tone for the day, held us BIG, gave enormous support and held very safe space for us to take risks, learn and grow. I know I am not the only one who had profound insights at a deep and cellular level. Your impact was great! You both are amazing, powerful and very present women and it was an honor and a privilege to share the day with you.
Karen Rafton
Novato, California
Groups
We have designed and worked with all kinds of groups.
The way you and your team designed and lead us through each activity with utmost care and integrity made the learning deeply personal. There is a way that you hold each person in the group with so much possibility that the challenges encountered on the ropes course turned into aids in the process of accomplishing the goal.
You truly kept us in the moment and taught me the power of "begin again".
With appreciation and love,
Michael Duhaney
Leadership Development Coach & Workshop Facilitator
Ontario, Canada