Rooted Life Adventures is a summer and gap year program provider that offers adventure, personal development, and real outcomes through overseas experiences with integrated mental health support. Enrollments are currently open for the New Zealand Fall 2024 six- and ten-week programs for young adults of all genders aged 18-22.
Rooted Life Adventures programs offer an ideal blend of excitement, environmental conservation, cultural immersion, and therapeutic coaching, suitable for the diverse needs of students seeking a meaningful, supported gap year-like experience.
All programs offer a psychoeducational curriculum with weekly itineraries that include wellness workshops - providing mental health and wellness information in a digestible format. Programs also have a therapeutic coach, also known as a Wellness Director, on-site 24/7 to facilitate the curriculum and offer ongoing support to all students and two program instructors. Our team is very experienced in working with teens and young adults with diverse needs - you can find out more about what our 'ideal student' looks like here to see whether our program would be the right fit for you.
Our students live in Queenstown on our NZ Fall program, a tourism hotspot and mountain resort on the South Island. Students undertake adventure activities, explore beautiful landscapes, and learn imperative life skills in a safe and supportive environment. They learn about New Zealand’s Māori culture and visit places of cultural significance. Students take part in volunteer service learning one day a week to learn how to preserve New Zealand’s indigenous flora and fauna and eradicate invasive species. Students also spend one day a week doing hands-on work at an internship on a rural New Zealand private sheep station (ranch) just outside of Queenstown, where they learn practical skills about farming through a varied curriculum.
Students are spoilt for choice regarding activities and adventure excursions; Queenstown has it all. They enjoy canyoning and waterfall rappelling, jetboating through canyons, and hiking in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park and on the Routeburn Track. They explore Milford Sound, the world’s “eighth wonder of the world,” by boat cruise, learn to rock climb in Wanaka, go luging in the mountains, and enjoy mesmerizing stargazing experiences. Not only do students learn and grow through these activities, but they also have fun, form strong and authentic friendships, and create lifelong memories.
Students spend one day a week on independent living skills to gain confidence in living independently away from home. They partake in cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, budgeting, cooking, and culinary skills. Together, they learn how to share a home, be good roommates and housemates, and share responsibility for household chores.
Rooted Life programs are designed for young people to increase their self-awareness, learn leadership and general life skills, and build confidence to feel empowered to develop a sense of self-belonging, capability, and purpose. Rooted Life Adventures does not provide clinical services. Instead, the program focuses on therapeutic coaching within a wellness-oriented framework, offering virtual visits to students’ home clinicians as needed.
The Rooted Life Adventures head office is based in New Zealand, and we are delighted to proudly share the South Island with our students, showing them the very best of what New Zealand has to offer.
To learn more about Rooted Life Adventures and the New Zealand Fall Program, please visit rootedlifeadventures.com. Please note that the Earlybird sale currently waives the enrollment fee, saving $2000—this promotion ends on 30 June.
About Rooted Life Adventures
Rooted Life Adventures is a small group adventure travel company that offers summer and gap year programs for teens and young adults, with integrated mental health support. Our programs provide young people with the opportunity to increase their self-awareness, learn leadership and general life skills, and build their confidence so they feel empowered to develop a sense of self-belonging, capability, and purpose.