Susan MacKenzie riding a river board
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Join me this Wednesday as I talk to extreme sport psychologist Susan Mackenzie on The Edge.
Dr. Susan Mackenzie is a rare academic. She studies extreme athletes. More to the point, she studies the benefits of adventure to human well-being. Like any action sport athlete, Susan knows in her bones that adventure is good for us. But she’s gone further than just trusting her intuition. She has dedicated her life and academic career to proving it.
Dr. Mackenzie received her PhD in Psychology from University of Otago in New Zealand. Currently she’s an Assistant Professor of Recreation at the University of Idaho.
She recently moved from New Zealand, where she taught courses in Adventure Tourism Management, Outdoor Education and Adventure Recreation and conducted research on psychological aspects of adventure, with an emphasis on positive psychology theories.
Susan’s interest in sport and adventure activities stems from nine years of riverboarding guiding in areas of New Zealand, the US and Chile and competing in the New Zealand National Women’s soccer league.
Her research is grounded in the belief that engaging in outdoor, physical activity is essential to health and mental well-being, and can provide a profound sense of meaning and purpose to everyday life. The results of her research have been published in leisure, tourism and psychology journals.
