This 2 hour slot contains two 1 hour sessions, which must be booked together.
11:00-12:00 The art of connecting to nature with purpose, a view from behavioural sciences & positive psychologyLaurie Parma
Ever wondered how we know so much about protecting our environment and yet so few people change their behaviors as a result? How is it that reading, watching and learning about environmental damage and available solutions is not enough?
If the gap between knowledge and actual excecution generates some degree of frustration within you: this session is for you.
To change the discourse, and overcome the obstables that conservation faces, we need to take into account the large contribution of human brains and behaviour in the equation. We need to understand what pulls the strings of behaviour in order to become change makers and use this knowledge for the greater good.
In this session we will learn and experiment with:
- Why information does not work to trigger change
- Why threat does not do the job either
- How to use neuroscience and behavioural science when engaging and communicating
- How to develop a meaningful connection to nature and conservation wired in positive psychology
- How to foster effective engagement
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12:00-13:00 Does time spent in nature improve our mental health? What benefits can time in nature bring? Why does it have an effect? What is the role, if any, of biodiversity in this? Do conservation and mental health practitioners have a common interest? Join us to discuss our relationship to nature and the impact that spending time outdoors has on us. Mental ill health is a growing problem in the UK. Also growing is the body of evidence showing that time in nature can help with this. Many of us instinctively know this, yet it is sitll not a mainstream response by policy makers, health pracctioners or ourselves.
This 'TV talk show' sees Will Ashley Cantello (WWF-UK Chief Adviser - Forests and founder of the mindulness in nature blog "Rooted to the moment") hosting a panel of experts including practioners who use parks and countryside as sites for therapy and voluntary organisations who use nature as a tool to engage young people in education.
Hear from and ask questions to our sofa guests who will be highlighting the shared interests of mental health and conservation stakeholders and what might be needed to make the most of this in an optimistic vision of the future.
- Jo Roberts, the CEO of Wilderness Foundation UK who use wilderness therapy to help young people and adults struggling to reach their potential
- Beth Collier, an experienced psychotherapist who uses the public parks in London as her therapy room
- Hendrikus van Hensbergen, the young Director of Action for Conservation whose mission is 'to bring the magic of nature into UK schools, inspiring a youth movement committed to conservation and to the earth'
