Keith C. Russell, Ph.D., is an associate professor in Recreation at Western Washington University with an emphasis on Outdoor Education and Youth Development. He has been a wilderness educator for more than twenty years in the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, and New Zealand, specializing in wilderness therapy for youth and expedition leadership in paddling sports, especially sea kayaking and whitewater paddling. His research and teaching specialties cover the areas of adventure education and therapy, human relations, research methods, and the application of counseling and mental health practice to recreation and outdoor education settings. Dr. Russell’s refereed and professional publications focus on the design, implementation and evaluation of educational and therapeutic programs for youth. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, the Journal of Groups in Addictions and Recovery, Child and Youth Care Forum, the International Journal of Wilderness, the Journal of Experiential Education, and the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. He is the former director of the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Research Cooperative (OBHRC) which he founded in 1999. Results from his work are routinely communicated to the public, academicians, mental health professionals, federal and state agencies, through a wide range of media including the BBC, New York Times, and Washington Post.