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| Conference Keynote Presenter |
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DR VAL NICHOLLS
Independent Consultant and
Facilitator |
Presentation
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Presentation
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DON'T JUST DO SOMETHING - SIT THERE!
Gazing at the sunset, stretching out on a warm rock, staring at the campfire, all common enough scenes but “what is going on when nothings going on?”
This was the question Val put to participants in a multiday bush and adventure therapy program. Building on their responses, Val will consider experiences of stillness, solitude and relaxed inactivity as lively and essential forces in effective outdoor adventure programming.
Practical suggestions and food for thought will be offered to facilitators and leaders wanting to promote the gentle art of ‘doing nothing’. It’s trickier than you think!
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Biography |
Dr Val Nicholls originally trained as a Speech Pathologist specializing in acquired and developmental disorders of communication. A decade later she turned her attention to the creative arts and spent another 10 years exploring the expressive and therapeutic qualities of clay.
During this time Val qualified as an outdoor leader/educator and was introduced to the philosophy and practice of adventure therapy through the Wilderness Program (then known as Project Hahn) in Tasmania, Australia.
Inspired by the therapeutic potential of nature and adventure experiences Val has worked as a facilitator of wilderness therapy for the past 15 years. In 2008 she gained her doctorate with the University of Wollongong researching the phenomenon of Quiet Time within a challenge-based wilderness therapy program. Her current interest lies in exploring the interplay of dichotomies such as engagement/solitude; cognition/intuition; action/repose; stress/equilibrium, and their contribution to the therapeutic process.
Val lives in Tasmania, Australia. She is a member of the national executive of the Australian Association of Bush Adventure Therapy (AABAT) and currently works freelance as a facilitator, educator and consultant. |
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