Presenters: Will Dobud, PhD & John Paul Healy, PhD Abstract: This presentation examines how contemporary therapy strayed from its pragmatic and experiential foundations, becoming increasingly techno-rational, standardised, and disconnected from lived experience. Once grounded in the dynamic, socially engaged ethos of pragmatism championed by figures such as Jane Addams and John Dewey, therapeutic practice is now often reduced to technical interventions and narrow, evidence-based protocols (or worse, manuals). Revisiting the principles of experiential learning and critical reflective practice, this session explores efforts to restore therapy’s original spirit, which values context, creativity, and human connection. Through the presenters’ experiments of reintroducing pragmatist ideas […]