I never metaphor I didn't like: exploring nature metaphors in therapeutic practice
Description
Outdoor health practices provide a rich somatosensory bath that often helps people to imagine and experience a more positive 'sense of themselves'. Yet, this positive 'sense of themselves’ often feels unsustainable against the stressful backdrop of life as usual. Metaphors, analogies, and similes can be used in outdoor health practice to explore hard-to-discuss topics and bridge the often-unfamiliar experiences we provide with people's day-to-day lives.
Session Outline
This workshop invites participants to explore the use of metaphor in their outdoor health practices. It will briefly outline some key concepts along with examples for consideration before inviting participants to individually or collaboratively create nature metaphors that could be used in their own work.
The concepts and principles shared in this workshop are drawn from narrative therapy practice, decades of experience facilitating groups outdoors, and emerging insights from research into the ethics of outdoor health practice.
Ben Knowles
he/him
Co-Director & Clinical Supervisor | Adventure Works Australia
Ben trained in education, outdoor education, experiential learning, and narrative therapy. Traversing these fields in many diverse contexts over the last two decades has honed his skills in working therapeutically with individuals, groups and communities outdoors. His current PhD project, looking at ‘ethics’ in Outdoor Health practice, has evolved from his strong commitment to seeing Outdoor Health practices find their place within the Australian health system.
Ben was pivotal in establishing the Australian Association for Bush Adventure Therapy (AABAT), Outdoor Health Australia and supports the work of the Outdoor Health sector. Alongside his PhD in public health, he works as a Co-director of Adventure Works Australia, is one of two Australian representatives on the Adventure Therapy International Committee (ATIC) and is co-lead of the ATIC ethics and good practice working group.