The Extraordinary Adventure Club is not for the faint-hearted. The adventures are remarkable, but the goal is transformational growth. It’s for people who will benefit from really stretching themselves, both physically and emotionally, exploring themselves to find out who they really are.

That’s where Calum Morrison comes in. The half-Scottish, half-Norwegian ex-Royal Marine really wants to help, but you won’t be wrapped in cashmere and gently persuaded. Growing up in the Highlands, Morrison was outside from a very early age, camping and hiking. ‘From the age of 15, I was working with mountain rescue and outward bound expeditions,’ he says, ‘and I began to understand the power of those environments, and in the ability to change.’ Morrison founded EAC six years ago, offering opportunities for self-discovery – unlocking and activating a client’s potential, and in the process recalibrating their perceptions about themselves and the world around them. A motivational team – clinical psychotherapists, psychiatrists, life coaches, management consultants, and specialists in conflict resolution, addiction and philanthropy – works together, so up to eight experts can be involved with one client. EAC has resolved a range of issues, from anxiety to destructive behaviour cycles, loss of direction in life to emotional breakdown.

At the heart of EAC’s transformational process are life-affirming challenges. Past experiential travel and learning has included trekking with nomads through a Sudanese desert, training with a Zimbabwean anti-poaching squad, motorcycling across the Mongolian wilderness, or dogsledding across a Norwegian mountain plateau.

After university, Morrison hitched across Africa and returned to train as an officer in the Marines. The personal challenge and the adventuring really appealed, he says. ‘In the military you’re stripped of the essence of who you are. You have to be very motivated and understand what makes people tick. You learn to be co-dependant, selfless and understand yourself so you can draw out the best in others, their development and traits.’

After eight years, he was on secondment to the Foreign Office, observing conflict in Chechnya and Georgia, before going into  business. All his experiences showed him how to build relationships in close environments. ‘Your security is dependent on the relationships you establish,’ he says.

Each EAC process begins with a retreat in the Highlands for four days. ‘It’s a comfortable place, but everyone has to pitch in,’ he says. ‘Transformation is not passive, it’s active, requires engagement and endeavour with a physical catalyst, too. So we take clients’ phones, laptops and watches, and ask them questions about purpose and function in life.’ And, he adds, ‘We identify whatever is required for personal development. Everybody has a hook or thread that we need to find, then we pull it, to help create a personal programme.’

Clients have to muck in, and to trust the team. ‘They eat round the same table as the team in the cottage,’ he says. ‘We will sleep out and do a fitness assessment. It’s a wild, beautiful environment with no distractions, so people have to concentrate on what they’re doing.’

After the retreat, the team identifies the destination. ‘We like the idea of nice surprises. The client will get instructions, get kit, go to the airport and we’ll meet them at the destination. We are always feeling the edges of their capability, we never push them too far. But when you do take them to a difficult environment they’ll do things they never thought they could.’

EAC’s clients are international, women and men. ‘We work with individuals in business, or those at a crossroads. We also work with the next generation and with families, and can help with a range of issues.’

‘It’s not a short-term fix,’ Morrison admits. ‘It requires commitment and ongoing contact. Our programmes shape and drive clients’ self-development, to find lasting, authentic motivation, create a framework for the life they want, and kick-start a journey of self-discovery that will deliver the best version of themselves.’

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