Hello Members, This newsletter comes to you full of amazing, fantastic news and ideas! If the Adelaide conference (2014) was dubbed the friendly conference, then the 2015 Gold Coast conference must surely be the thinking conference! There was so much interaction, engagement, sharing of ideas, concepts, and development of new thoughts, plans, and areas to investigate further! I know I came away exhausted, yet invigorated, with plans, ideas and thoughts for supporting DTA into the future.
Your Board also met the day prior to the conference. This is the only day we meet face to face, as all of our meetings are via phone link-up. I have to say, we worked very, very hard that day, and I have no doubt that each Board member went away exhausted. One of the initiatives DTA have been planning is to develop a suite of on-line educational experiences. You might have already taken advantage of similar tools on the DTA website. The new tools will be part of the Healthstrong education program. DTA have met with Healthstrong over the past few months and have agreed to work with them in developing these educational options to support DT’s across Australia and overseas. The value is that in being developed by DT’s, there is a unique awareness and appreciation of the specific needs and roles of the DT. Each educational opportunity will be approximately 1 hour in duration and will earn 2 PD points. So, this is a great way to amass your points, but also the perfect avenue to promote Diversional Therapy within the workplace. During the day the Board began working in 5 of these tools, with several nearing completion. Of course, there is a significant amount of work to finalise and get these ready for online viewing. Keep watching the newsletters for the announcement they are ready to go!
The conference program was absolutely jam-packed with information, ideas, and yes, even confronting points of view! What an amazing opportunity to learn, explore, and test a whole range of concepts. One of the most talked about sessions was titled ‘’The Great Debate – Relational or Therapeutic – Who is right’’. This is a topic which demanded open discussion! The members have queried it for a long time, and the conference was the perfect place to begin the discussion. Whilst it wasn’t really a debate – and was far more of a discussion, it did raise valid points and made each of us explore our own philosophy and working experience. Several initiatives have developed from this discussion, including exploring the possibility of a DT focused quality of life indicator.
Another major initiative which came out of the conference is the formation of a private practice networking group and also a DT consultants group. Quite a few DTs have put their names to these lists – please contact the office if you would also like to be included in the discussions around these two groups.
Charles Sturt University were one of the fantastic trade partners at the Conference. As a result of the high level of interest in the Bachelor of Health Science (Leisure & Health) degree qualification, they are offering a webinar, explaining what the degree entails and what your level of commitment would look like. Please make contact with Robin Harvey at CSU (02 605 19131 or rbharvey@csu.edu.au) if you would like to be included in this great opportunity to explore future study options. Prospective attendees will register for the event and be given a link to the session which they can either log into for the session, or log in at a later date and time when suits them, to access the recording. The more information you have, the better your decision making will be!
If you were not able to attend the conference, you can still have access to the information; simply call/email the office, or download the merchandise form online, and you can order your copy of the conference papers/presentations on USB. What a great way to keep informed, and if you were at conference, what a great way to be re-reminded – it’s so easy to come home and forget small points; this way you can go back and reflect, and you have access to names and ideas.
Check out this magazine for more ideas to come out of the conference. And please check out the NSW workshop to be held on 17th November. A jam-packed information day, from The Gardening Lady, to a new exercise alternative and just about everything in between! And why not stay on for the AGM! Last year many of the workshop attendees stayed for the AGM and took the opportunity to network over dinner. A fantastic way to keep informed!
Regards,
Louise Absalom