Castaway Accessible Sports Therapy
Our community-based program consists of a network of multi-site, ongoing, therapeutic adaptive outdoor recreation programs that center on therapeutic adaptive fly fishing. C.A.S.T. programs are each individually tailored to meet the unique needs and overcome the specific challenges of the communities of which they are a part. For example, one program may incorporate an adaptive kayak program alongside our proprietary therapeutic adaptive fly fishing and fly tying program delivered via a city or county parks and recreation department, and have a variety of local and regional partners all pitching in to make the program work while another C.A.S.T. program might consist of a group of licensed healthcare practitioners in private practice who are simultaneously running research projects with a local university. Still another C.A.S.T. program may be run by a local fly fishing club in cooperation with an adaptive equestrian facility to host an annual pack-in trip to a nearby roadless wildnerness area.
The Castaway fly fishing and tying curriculum consists of AFFI's proprietary therapeutic adaptive fly fishing and tying instructional courses. These classes and day trips are embedded in an holistic, inclusive framework open for participation to individuals with special needs, their relatives, and their caregivers. These classes meet regularly, can be tailored to a schedule ranging from 6 to 12 weeks in cycle duration, and teach participants all of the fundamental skills of fly casting, fishing, and tying - with a special emphasis on adaptive training and equipment for people with disabilities. AFFI encourages a free service model for participants wherever sufficient funding can be secured for long-term viability, but some are offered on a very low-cost fee basis that is subsidized through private and public third party funding to the greatest extent possible.
All C.A.S.T. programs must be certified annually by AFFI, supervised, and managed by AFFI-certified instructors. Some are directly managed by the institute through contractual agreements with local, regional, or federal government or non-governmental organizations. C.A.S.T. serves as the basis for the fly fishing course at Texas Tech University's Graduate School of Counseling Education.