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    • Reading the Landscape: How Social Sciences Research Might Shape Outdoor Therapy’s Future

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    Outdoor therapies encompass a range of practices, from nature-based therapy and surf therapy to equine-assisted approaches. In practice, these outdoor approaches are growing fast, yet the available evidence base hasn't always kept pace. This webinar draws on more than two decades of research to share key lessons about what we know, and what we still need to learn, about outdoor therapies in research and practice. We explore the role of therapeutic factors, the importance of client voice, ethics, the diverse pathways clients take toward change, and the shift from anecdote to accountable, data-driven practice. Social science disciplines, such as social […]

    Free

    Exploring Men’s Experiences in Walk-and-Talk Therapy- Results from a Pilot Study

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    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 randomised pilot study at the University of Newcastle. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we’ve found that the informal approach and physical movement gave men a culturally familiar entry into therapy through reshaping the therapeutic relationship, lowering the barrier to showing up to therapy, and making it easier to be open and vulnerable once they did. In addition, walk-and-talk therapy […]

    Free

    The False Divide between Nature and Culture

    Virtual , Australia

    Newcastle Youth Studies Centre

    The False Divide between Nature and Culture: How Estrogens, Yeasts and Snakes Reveal the Entanglement of Everyday Life Hosted by the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre Featuring: Mary Lou Rassmussen (ANU) and Celia Roberts (ANU) Ben Matthews (University of Newcastle) Gavin Smith (ANU) “Culture” is often equated with all things human, and “nature” with the external environment; distinguished from each other as if they were two separate realms of reality. This idea stemmed from modernist ideals of progress, where nature and ‘the environment’ were framed as separate distinct from humans as something to exploit or dominate, external to human endeavours, or […]

    Free

    Beyond the Challenge: When Cultural Narratives Replace Therapeutic Goals

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    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 values, such as perseverance, achievement, resilience, and "never giving up" can overshadow participants’ individual therapeutic intentions. Using a real case from an international university programme, we will examine how well-intentioned support can become subtle pressure, preventing participants from recognising their own boundaries, needs, and authentic success. The session invites practitioners to rethink how we frame activities and how we continually reconnect participants with […]

    Free

    Is Social Media Killing Kids, and Why Do We Keep Getting Suckered By These Things

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    Over the last decade, widespread concern that social media is harming young people, and the recurring cycles of moral panic that often accompany new technologies, have been growing. But is this really new? Drawing on the available evidence, Dr. Chris Ferguson will explore why alarming narratives about youth and media gain traction, and how they shape public opinion and policy responses, including social media bans. This webinar is a critical reflection on the evidence behind these claims, as well as the broader social and cultural forces that sustain them. About the Presenter Dr Christopher Ferguson holds a PhD in clinical […]

    Free

    Transformative social sciences: education and partnerships in action

    Virtual , Australia

    University of Melbourne

    Bringing together students, partners and academics, this hybrid panel event will focus on the transformative impacts of social science education in applied partnerships for sharing knowledge, developing the next generation of change makers, and to enhance the depth and breadth of social science education. We will hear from those who have engaged social science students as interns, students who have worked during their degrees in related fields, and from academics who are committed to advancing education through practice. The session will highlight the breadth and depth of the impact of social science training in a broad range of industries, alongside […]

    Free

    Just Because It Worked… Doesn’t Mean It Was Right: Good Outcomes + Bad Process = Harm

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    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 practice. Revisiting critiques of coercive wilderness therapy, Australian boot camps and related interventions, we examine how lasting wellbeing develops through experiences that strengthen agency, relationships and a healthy sense of self, while the opposite happens if we seek compliance. The session explores the ethical and practical implications for adventure therapy and the wider helping professions, asking whether we have sometimes mistaken behavioural […]

    Free

    How Adventure Therapy Works? What Do We Need to Know?

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    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 processes that may shape client outcomes. The presentation explores how these mechanisms intersect with practitioner training and program design. Recent findings on the preparation of adventure therapy providers are outlined, including core competencies, professional pathways, and emerging standards. Critical gaps in the current evidence base are identified, especially concerning training quality, implementation fidelity, and the translation of theory into practice. Finally, the webinar proposes priority […]

    Free

    Lived Experiences of LGBTQ+ Religious Youth in a hostile policy landscape: Digital Media, Wellbeing, and Visual Methods

    Virtual , Australia

    Newcastle Youth Studies Centre

    Lived Experiences of LGBTQ+ Religious Youth in a hostile policy landscape: Digital Media, Wellbeing, and Visual Methods This panel discussion will share the empirical and theoretical insights developed from the Australian Research Council Discover Project ‘Youth, Religion, and Sexuality: Digital Media, School Cultures, and Exemptions’. This project explores how LGBTQ+ religious youth navigate the affective entanglements of gender, sexuality, and faith within institutional, digital, and other everyday contexts. We have employed arts-based digital ethnography and photovoice methods to centre emotion, attachment, and embodied experience to understand young people’s subjectivities as well as the effects that religious exemptions from the Federal […]

    Free

    Considering the Tale of the Spinning Wheel: Beyond Crisis Management in Outdoor Learning and Outdoor Adventure Therapies

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    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 to the experience. Rather than offering simple answers, this talk explores how ethical principles can help practitioners recognise and navigate these tensions. Using a familiar fairy tale as a narrative guide, we consider how beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and other ethical principles support everyday ethical decision-making. We examine how practitioners and organisations are required to justify not only how their interventions prevent harm and respond to […]

    Free

    Creative Flow Open Studio: An Experiment in Everyday Creativity

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    Why is it so hard to sustain something we know is good for us, and what might happen if we designed the conditions differently? How might rhythm, shared practice, and accessibility reshape the way we engage in everyday creativity? We know that regular creative engagement is linked with improved wellbeing, yet many people struggle to maintain a creative practice amidst the demands of everyday life. This presentation shares the story of Creative Flow Open Studio, a simple experiment that began with one question: What happens if we make just thirty minutes of creative practice part of each weekday? After beginning […]

    Free

    Never Mind the Neurobullocks: The Three Biggest Myths of Neuroscience

    Virtual , Australia

    Charles Sturt University

    Ana Lund will share the three neuroscience myths that live rent-free in your brain and in your textbooks and why they need an eviction notice. Attendees will explore how these misconceptions arise, why they endure, and the consequences they have for therapeutic practice and human understanding. Rather than dismissing neuroscience, Lund advocates for a more thoughtful, evidence-informed integration of neuroscience into social and therapeutic contexts. About the Presenter Ana Lund is an integrative psychotherapist with a foundation in Transactional Analysis and a member of BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). Ana holds a PhD in science and has spent […]

    Free