South West Counselling and Psychotherapy Conference 2026

We are living and working in a time shaped by overlapping systemic crises—climate catastrophe, mass migration, economic instability and profound social change. These pressures do not remain outside the therapy room; they move through our clients’ lives and our own. Increasingly, practitioners are encountering acute mental-health concerns, climate anxiety, and the emotional fallout of polarised identity politics. As counsellors and psychotherapists, we are challenged to meet this rising tide of distress while also sustaining our own capacity to remain present, grounded and hopeful.

This conference invites us to explore what it means to work at the edges—where personal pain meets collective upheaval, and where therapeutic presence becomes both an anchor and a catalyst for resilience. Our speakers will reflect on supporting clients through climate anxiety, understanding our role in helping them navigate systemic social change, and working with the Gestalt notion of the “safe emergency.” Together, we will consider how hope can be held honestly and ethically in difficult times.

Alongside these keynote explorations, breakout sessions will offer practical and reflective pathways, including Compassionate Inquiry in health contexts, moving beyond the Genderbread Person in gender-related work, practising in nature, and building sustainable, ethical therapeutic practices. We hope this gathering becomes a resource in itself—a space to reconnect, reimagine and renew our collective resilience.