12-20 September 2026
This evolving presentation explores how critical reflection is central to both social work practice and could become essential in outdoor education and therapy. To be more effective, critical reflection should focus on the street level, working closely with those with...
This presentation addresses the “missing middle” in mental healthcare - the gap for young people whose needs are not adequately met by traditional services. We introduce the Human Nature Program, a nature-based therapeutic model that delivers therapy and mentoring...
Around the world, Outdoor Therapy practices have been challenging us to question some of our deepest assumptions about healing. Who is recognised as a legitimate facilitator of change? Why are some places considered therapeutic while others are not? What makes a...
Outdoor programs are often described as naturally engaging, therapeutic or transformative. Yet being outside does not automatically create participation, safety or meaningful change. Outdoor experiences can reproduce the same adult agendas found in classrooms,...
Traditional therapy has often been built around ways of connecting that don’t suit everyone, and many men find it difficult to open up while sitting face-to-face. This talk discusses the experiences of 11 men who participated in walk-and-talk therapy sessions in a...
Adventure therapy often uses challenging activities as a pathway for personal growth. However, participants - and sometimes facilitators - can unintentionally confuse the task of a certain activity with the therapeutic goal. This presentation explores how cultural...
If a young person returns more compliant, polite or settled, has the intervention genuinely helped, or simply produced obedience? This webinar introduces an ecological model of psychological development to examine why good outcomes do not necessarily indicate good...
This webinar examines an evolving conceptualisation of how adventure therapy facilitates change across diverse practice settings, informed by prior scholarship in the field. It presents a synthesised model of key mechanisms of change, emphasising experiential...
Outdoor learning and outdoor adventure therapies, like all therapeutic approaches, are shaped by ethical dilemmas. However, unlike many therapies, these dilemmas unfold in dynamic and unpredictable environments where challenge, uncertainty, and risk are often integral...
Whether recreational or therapeutic, the process of meaning-making is an inherent part of the human experience. From an existential-heuristic lens, this presentation will explore the stories and adventure activities clients have found purposeful and insightful for...