Program | Day 1
DAY 1 | THURSDAY 17 MARCH 2022
08:30 | WELCOME + WELCOME TO COUNTRY
Beth Phelan, Executive Director, Happiness & Its Causes
Uncle Allen Madden, respected Gadigal Elder, cultural representative for the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council
MC: Gillian Coutts, mindful leadership consultant and Australian Country Director of Potential Project
08:40 | OPENING PERFORMANCE
Tenzin Choegyal, Tibetan composer, activist, musical director and cultural ambassador
8:45 - 10:20 | CREATING HAPPINESS, MEANING & CONNECTION
8:45 | BEAUTY AND THE BEST OF RESILIENCE
Maria Sirois, inspirational psychologist and consultant who teaches internationally at the intersection of resilience and flourishing; author of Happiness After Loss, USA
“Beauty awakens the soul to act.” Dante Alighieri
It is difficult to create a life that we love in the presence of ongoing uncertainty, threat, and loss. Yet, this is exactly what resilient folk do: use moments of difficulty to expand healthier practices that, over time, increase happiness. Discover the benefits of approaching our lives through the lens of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, a potent character strength that enhances a perspective of gratitude and solidifies attention to skill, excellence and moral goodness. Attendees are asked to bring images of beauty/excellence that currently inspire a sense of meaning, hope, or happiness.
Includes Audience Q & A
9:15 | LOVING COUNTRY
Bruce Pascoe, Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man and award-winning author of Dark Emu
Vicky Shukuroglou, artist, and researcher dedicated to deepening our care and understanding of the Earth
By knowing sacred Australia’s whole and old story, we can find the way to fall in love with our home. Be entranced by stories and stunning photos and discover some keys to unlocking and revealing the heart of this loving country.
9:35 | WE CAN MOULD OUR MIND INTO ANY SHAPE WE LIKE
Ven Robina Courtin, inspiring Buddhist nun and founder, Liberation Prison Project, USA
We are brilliant at moulding our minds into the shape of musicians and cooks and carpenters, but when it comes to having confidence in our capacity to turn ourselves into a happy, self-confident and loving person — forget it! Why? Because we put far too much emphasis on external causes and not enough on the mind itself.
Includes Audience Q & A
10:05 | HIGH QUALITY CONNECTIONS: CREATING HAPPINESS, HEALTH & HOPE
Dr Suzy Green, leader in the fields of Coaching Psychology and Positive Psychology; Founder of The Positivity Institute
Be introduced to the science and art of high quality connections. Learn how to apply a coaching approach to engage in quality conversations throughout the conference. Suzy will connect each of us to an accountability partner/co-coach to increase our chances of putting knowledge and skills gained at Happiness & Its Causes into practice post-conference – creating a positive ripple effect back to our homes, workplaces and communities.
10:30 – 11:00 | MORNING COFFEE
11:00 - 12:45 | HAPPINESS & FLOURISHING
11:00 | MOVING FROM ‘STRONGMEN’ TO THE STRENGTH WITHIN MEN
Dr Zac Seidler, clinical psychologist and leading advocate for men’s mental health, Director of Mental Health Training, Movember
The men’s mental health narrative is littered with talk of risk, shame and suffering. To date, there has been little focus on what helps men flourish, on how they can overcome the strict pressures of masculine socialisation to be active participants in their own health and wellbeing. Let’s start talking about all that men can be, what men are capable of, in order to tackle ever-worsening mental health outcomes in this population.
11:20 | IN CONVERSATION: GROWING UP DISABLED IN AUSTRALIA
Gayle Kennedy, Wongaiibon woman of the Ngiyaampaa Nation, award-winning author and disability advocate
Gillian Coutts, mindful leadership consultant and Australian Country Director of Potential Project
Gayle Kennedy’s childhood was unlike most of those in her country town after she contracted polio. An epidemic of the polio virus was sweeping through Australia and, at two year’s old, Gayle had to be sent away from her family for treatment. It was about three years before she could return home.
11:40 | PANEL: RECOVERY, RECOVERY, RECOVERY: HOW CAN WE PREVENT LANGUISHING, ANGUISHING AND BURNOUT?
Dr Maria Sirois, inspirational psychologist and consultant who teaches internationally at the intersection of resilience and flourishing; author of Happiness After Loss, USA
Ven Robina Courtin, inspiring Buddhist nun and founder, Liberation Prison Project, USA
Gayle Kennedy, Wongaiibon woman of the Ngiyaampaa Nation, award-winning author, and disability advocate
Dr Zac Seidler, clinical psychologist and leading advocate for men’s mental health, Director of Mental Health Training, Movember
Moderator: Dr Suzy Green, leader in the fields of Coaching Psychology and Positive Psychology; Founder of The Positivity Institute
Sometimes life knocks us down, we feel worried, stressed and under pressure, and can hardly get off the lounge. What can help us to recover, or even better, head these feelings off at the pass? How can we get some happiness and joy back into our lives?
12:05 | MAKING LEARNING STICK FOR EVERYONE TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD
Dr William DeJean, inspiring educator and Founder, Unleash Learning™
If information alone was the key to making our world a better place, the internet would have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize. The deal is, it’s not information, but learning that sticks for everyone that can help improve our world. If you’re a trainer, presenter, coach, educator or person with knowledge that you believe can positively impact the lives of others, this talk is for you! Learn some practical tips you can use throughout the conference, to make your own learning stick.
12:25 | EXITING THE WORRY ROUNDABOUT - INSTANTLY!
Toni Powell, storyteller and workplace culture wonderworker
Toni Powell shares the funny true story that helped her cut down on anxiety and stress in an instant.
12:45 – 14:00 | LUNCH BREAK
14:00 - 15:30 | LIVING YOUR LIFE TO THE FULL
14:00 | TWO MINUTE MOVES
Lizzy Williamson, personal trainer and fitness guru, author of Two Minute Moves
We all know that we should be moving more, but sometimes that first step is the most difficult to take. Join Lizzy as she turns that first step into a leap and makes it feel easy! By stopping the excuses we can reap the benefits of a happier, healthier more energised life. It starts with just two minutes.
14:05 | SECRETS TO THRIVING THROUGH ADVERSITY
Sue Langley, master trainer and leading advisor in the practical application of positive psychology
New research shines a spotlight on the ingenious ways people have sought positive solutions in a pandemic. The research uncovered eight key areas that helped bolster, buffer and boost mental wellbeing through the pandemic – some of which may surprise you! What are the tools we can put in our toolkit to protect us when adversity hits? Where does post traumatic growth come in? How do the positive psychology interventions stack up when the going gets tough? What can we do to ensure we come through adversity thriving?
14:25 | LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE THROUGH THE ACCEPTANCE OF DEATH
Professor Ross Menzies, CBT specialist working with obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress,
Dr Rachel Menzies, clinical psychologist and pioneering researcher into death anxiety and mental health
From the development of religious systems to ‘immortality projects’ involving enduring art, architecture and literature, humans have largely sought to defeat death. In our society we prefer to ignore death, rarely discussing it or thinking about it in other than fearful terms. In contrast, it will be argued that only a complete acceptance of death allows us to build a meaningful, purposeful and fully authentic life.
14:45 | UNTANGLING YOU: HOW CAN I BE GRATEFUL WHEN I FEEL SO RESENTFUL?
Dr Kerry Howells, world-leading gratitude researcher, award-winning educator and author of Untangling you: How can I be grateful when I feel so resentful?
Learn some practical strategies to start to untangle difficult relationships and discover how to overcome everyday resentments, by practising deep gratitude. Gratitude has the power to restore broken relationships, improve our wellbeing, grow our resilience and ultimately move us from resentment towards gratitude.
15:05 | BEING HUMAN CAN BE HARD: HERE’S HOW TO MAKE IT A LITTLE EASIER
Evan Sutter, author, coach and founder of Hapzly, an organisation creating tools and initiatives to help make the world happier
If we stay curious, open, creative, and playful, we allow ourselves the chance to open up to the bewildering amount of possibilities and beautiful experiences that are often available to us but are missed in our haste. Be inspired to simply play in the uncertainty of being human, to find the courage to live in a way that is meaningful to you, and to explore your life bravely, to open rather than close, to practice in a way that enriches your life and the lives of those around you. And, in the words of the beloved Irish author John O’Donohue, to lie on your deathbed and say, “I didn’t sit on the fence” and “I sucked the marrow out of life.”
15:30 – 16:00 | AFTERNOON COFFEE
16:00 - 17:30 | MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD
16:00 | IN CONVERSATION: LIVING A LIFE OF PURPOSE
Roxy Danckwerts, renowned founder of Wild Is Life animal sanctuary & Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery, Zimbabwe
Moderator: David Michie, meditation coach and internationally best-selling author of many titles including The Dalai Lama’s Cat series
Roxy’s dedication to the rescued animals being rehabilitated at her wildlife animal sanctuary is awe-inspiring. What drives her is…“simply love” she says.
16:25 | THREE PROVEN WAYS TO UNCOVER YOUR CORE VALUES
Shamash Alidina, one of the UK’s most popular mindfulness teachers and author of bestselling Mindfulness for Dummies, London, UK
Discover three creative ways to help you and others clarify what your values are. The session will combine the theory, powerful practical exercises, and tips to help you use your values to take meaningful action in your life.
16:40 | BEYOND ISOLATION, ANXIETY AND ENTITLEMENT: HOW TO CREATE A BETTER FUTURE
Maggie Hamilton, writer and social researcher, who delights in new possibilities and dreams of an even better future for us all
If we have any hope of making our presence on the planet count, we need to fully engage not just with our own lives but with humanity at large and the many intricate layers of ecology we are all part of. We need to explore some of the big questions in life: How does loneliness feed our fears and sense of entitlement? What does tomorrow require of us? How do we do the things that are difficult, so they become easy and we become strong?
17:00 | THE HUMAN WORLD OF WORK REVOLUTION – HOW COMPASSIONATE LEADERSHIP IS HELPING CHANGE WORK-LIFE FOR THE BETTER
Rasmus Hougaard, best-selling author of The Mind of the Leader; Managing Director, Potential Project International, Denmark
Gillian Coutts, mindful leadership consultant and Australian Country Director of Potential Project
How can you balance compassion for your people with effectiveness in getting the job done? A global pandemic, economic volatility, natural disasters, civil and political unrest. From New York to Barcelona to Hong Kong, it can feel as if the world as we know it is coming apart. Through it all, our human spirit is being tested. Now more than ever, it’s imperative for leaders to demonstrate compassion.