Michael Gass

He/him/his

Michael Gass (he, him, his) is the Director of Research and Funding for the Play for Peace organization. He is a licensed marriage and family therapist
by the State of New Hampshire, recognized as a clinical fellow by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), and has achieved certified clinical adventure therapist status (CCAT) from the Association for Experiential Education (AEE). He is one of the creators of the Browne Center, a program development, service, and research center on adventure programming that serves over 10,000 clients a year with educational, therapeutic, and corporate clients.

He was the inaugural Chair of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) Accreditation Council for its first 10 years and President of the Board of Directors of AEE in 1990. He was also instrumental in contributing to the creation of the accreditation standards for the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council (OBHC) in 2014, which is currently in its 3rd edition. His book Effective Leadership in Adventure was Programming (3rd edition) (written with Dr. Simon Priest) has been the largest-selling textbook in the adventure programming field for the last 16 years. His book, Adventure Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice (2nd Edition, 2020) was written with Dr. Lee Gillis and Dr. Keith Russell).