Keynote: Steffi Bednarek

Steffi Bednarek 

Beyond the Skin Boundary of the Self:  Therapy in a time when the familiar is unravelling

In a time of ecological crisis and cultural disintegration, we are being called to rethink many of the systems, assumptions, and ways of being that once felt familiar. Traditional ideas of healing as something that happens solely within the individual can feel increasingly limited in a world shaped by interconnected crises—where the solutions we reach for are often part of the problem.

This keynote asks how we might understand healing not only as personal resolution, but as a form of meaningful participation in a wounded yet living world. It explores how psychotherapy and counselling might be held within a broader ecological perspective—one that moves beyond the individual focus of modern Western thinking and recognises the deep interconnectedness of all life. From this perspective, healing does not occur in isolation but is inseparable from the wider systems and contexts in which we live.

The talk brings attention to the cultural and ecological landscapes within which we practise, and considers how therapeutic work is shaped by, and entangled with, wider forces such as oppression, environmental harm, and dominant cultural narratives. It offers an invitation to collectively reflect on the urgent need to reimagine Western ideas of what it means to be human, and what healing might ask of us in these times.

Meet Steffi Bednarek 

Steffi Bednarek is a climate psychologist, Gestalt Psychotherapist, systems thinker, and IFS therapist. She is the founder and director of the Centre for Climate Psychology and editor of the book, Climate, Psychology and Change, which has been called “a work of wisdom and radical ideas” and has been endorsed by Bill McKibben, Fritjof Capra, Satish Kumar and other leading systems thinkers. Through writing, teaching, and dialogue, she invites a reimagining of our place in the web of life and advocates for the restoration of Soul in the collective culture.

Steffi has worked for national governments, the corporate sector, global financial institutions, the sustainability sector and large NGOs. Her work has been featured in the Huffington Post, the BBC, the Financial Times and numerous academic and professional publications.