The full program for PACFA’s Safety Through Diversity Conference 2022 is available to view. Tickets are limited, so register now to make sure you’re part of the ‘festival of ideas’.
The conference is online over 5 days, from 14-18 November - no need to navigate traffic or airports, easier to schedule around other commitments, and Covid-safe.
A ticket for all 5 days of the conference is only $190 for PACFA members/$90 for student members/members experiencing financial hardship/$290 non-members. Single day registrations are $90 for all members/$190 for non-members. Please note, to register, you will have to sign in to Zoom, or register for a free account if you don’t have one already.
With attendance per day accruing up to 6.5 Category A CPD hours, practising members can fulfill their CPD requirement for the year in just 4 days.
This year's conference has a dynamic new 'collaborative festival of ideas' format, with speakers/’key collaborators' sparking conversations around different themes for each day. You are part of the program!
Day 1: Indigenous Healing Practices
14 November 2022
Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear 6 highly-respected First Nations healing practitioners yarning about Indigenous Healing Practices - what they are and how they are being used to heal the impacts of colonisation for First Nations men, women, children, families and communities.
Convened by PACFA's College of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Practices (CATSIHP), collaborators on this day are: CATSIHP Convenor, Jiman and Bundjalung woman, Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson, CATSIHP Co-Convenor, Badimaya and Ukrainian woman Bianca Stawiarski, Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaraay woman Judy-Kaye Knox, Torres Strait Islander man Tod Stokes, Arrente man Tyson Carmody and Wiradjuri/Wolgalu man Joe Williams.
Day 2: Diversity in Gender, Body, Kinship and Sexuality
15 November 2022
PACFA’s Diversity in Gender, Kinship, Body and Sexuality Interest Group (formerly LGBTQ+) hosts Day 2, which will begin with a morning Listening, Witnessing & Reflecting Space. Practitioners and community leaders with GBKS lived experience will share their stories in a safe space. Please note, this event is separately ticketed.
In the afternoon of Day 2, there will be 'fireside chats' between the GBKS Interest Group leaders and other key collaborators about topics such as ‘Professional practice with trans young people’: Autonomy violations, coercive control, and anti-oppressive resistance’ and 'Senior educators reflecting on how to achieve greater inclusion and understanding in professional learning contexts and the essential role of lived experience stories'.
Day 3: The Politics of Mental Health
16 November 2022
Convened by Registered Clinical Counsellors, new PACFA President Nigel Polak and Rachel Friebel, Day 3 takes a deep dive into how counselling, psychotherapy and Indigenous Healing Practices fit within Australia’s mental health sector.
PACFA’s CEO Johanna de Wever; Relationships Australia NSW CEO Elisabeth Shaw; counsellor, author and educator, Adrian Holmes; and the Convenor of PACFA's new College of Creative and Experiential Therapies Carla van Laar are among key collaborators who will lead discussion exploring the international and Australian history of mental health, how politics plays out within the mental health sector and the future of our profession.
Day 4: Research
17 November 2022
Day 4 dovetails with Day 3, exploring how research can best support our professions in becoming more visible and how PACFA can uphold Indigenous research methods and processes for healing the impacts of colonisation.
Convened by PACFA’s Research Committee, key collaborators for this day include past and present editors of PACFA’s peer-reviewed journal, the Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia. The University of Melbourne's Associate Professor Michelle Evans and A/Prof Julie Moschion will be in conversation with PACFA’s College of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Practices Convenor, Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson, about a joint research project on historical frontier violence and its impacts on Indigenous Australians today.
Day 5 - Wrap up: bringing it all together towards the future
18 November 2022
Day 5 will weave together the threads from previous conference days and clarify what PACFA members and other participants will take forward as actions for the counselling and psychotherapy profession.
Please note, all conference participants are asked to follow the Community of Care Guidelines.
Don’t miss out – register now!