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Programme Suitability Policy

Essential Eligibility Criteria

Quest programmes operate in remote outdoor settings with limited staff to participant ratios and physically and emotionally demanding activities. This policy sets out the essential eligibility criteria that every participant must be able to meet, with or without reasonable accommodation, in order to take part safely.

These criteria describe the genuine demands of the programme itself. They are not a list of excluded diagnoses or conditions. Quest Africa assesses every applicant individually against these criteria, regardless of any disability, diagnosis or medical history, and considers reasonable accommodations before making any decision.

What Quest Africa Is and Is Not

Quest Africa is a structured outdoor education and life skills programme. It is not a clinical, therapeutic, rehabilitation or correctional setting. Quest does not have on-site psychiatric or addiction treatment staff and is not equipped to manage acute medical, psychiatric or behavioural crises.

Where a participant requires a level of clinical support, supervision or intervention that goes beyond what a general outdoor education programme can reasonably provide, Quest Africa will not be the appropriate setting, regardless of the underlying cause. This is a statement about programme capability rather than a judgement about any individual.

Essential Eligibility Criteria

To take part in a Quest programme, an applicant must be able to, with or without reasonable accommodation:

Physical and Medical

  1. Participate in physically demanding activities including hiking with a pack, sustained outdoor exertion and travel over uneven terrain for multiple consecutive days.
  2. Manage personal care, medication and any required medical equipment independently or with the support reasonably available from facilitators.
  3. Tolerate the environmental conditions of the programme location, including heat, sun exposure and basic field hygiene facilities.
  4. Communicate basic needs, discomfort or injury to staff in a way that staff can understand and respond to.

Behavioural and Emotional

  1. Follow safety instructions from facilitators promptly and consistently, including in situations involving risk.
  2. Manage personal emotional responses without posing a risk of harm to themselves or others.
  3. Function within a small group living and travelling closely together, with limited privacy and limited ability to remove themselves from the group.
  4. Cope with the level of supervision available, which does not include one-to-one continuous individual monitoring.

Mental Health and Behavioural History

  1. Be clinically stable enough, in the assessment of a treating professional where relevant, to participate in a physically demanding programme away from regular clinical support.
  2. Not require active treatment for a condition that, if interrupted for the duration of the programme, would create a serious risk to the participant or others.
  3. Not have a history of behaviour that would pose a serious safety risk to other participants or staff in a remote setting with limited intervention options.

Substance Use

Quest Africa is not a rehabilitation facility and does not provide addiction treatment, detoxification or clinical management of substance dependency. An applicant must:

  1. Not be in active addiction requiring clinical management or supervised withdrawal.
  2. Not be attending Quest as a substitute for, or alternative to, a recommended course of medical or addiction treatment.

Screening and Disclosure

All applicants are required to complete a medical and welfare disclosure form as part of registration. This information is used solely to assess suitability against the criteria in this policy and to plan appropriate support. It is treated as confidential and shared only with staff who need it to plan and run the programme safely.

Failure to disclose relevant medical, psychiatric or behavioural information that would have affected an eligibility decision may result in removal from the programme without refund.

Reasonable Accommodation

Where an applicant cannot meet one or more of the essential eligibility criteria without support, Quest Africa will consider reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis. This may include adjustments to activities, additional planning with the applicant and their family or treating professionals, or modified roles within group activities.

An accommodation will not be considered reasonable where it would fundamentally alter the nature of the programme, place an undue burden on Quest Africa’s resources or compromise the safety of the applicant or other participants.

Decision Process

Eligibility decisions are made by the Programme Lead and approved by Quest Africa Management, based on the information provided at registration and, where relevant, in consultation with the applicant, their parent or guardian and any treating professionals.


Where an application is declined or a participant is withdrawn from a programme on the basis of this policy, Quest Africa will provide a written explanation referencing the specific criteria involved and, where appropriate, will suggest alternative resources or programmes that may be better suited to the individual’s needs.

Mid-Programme Review

If a participant’s circumstances change during a programme such that they no longer meet the essential eligibility criteria, even with reasonable accommodation, programme leadership may withdraw the participant from some or all activities or from the programme entirely. This decision will be made with participant safety and group safety as the primary considerations and will be communicated to parents or guardians as soon as practicable

Review

This policy will be reviewed annually or sooner if needed to ensure the criteria remain accurate, fair and reflective of the actual demands of Quest programmes.