Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER)

Supporting mental health & wellbeing with Outdoor Education: a toolkit from Outdoors Victoria

ACHPER Australia Season 1 Episode 7

In this podcast, A/Prof Sue Whatman interviews Luke Parker from Outdoors Victoria about their toolkit for outdoor education. A new element of the toolkit assists teachers to make use of the outdoors to support better mental health and wellbeing. Outdoors Victoria partnered with ACHPER's Victorian branch in developing the toolkit to help not only HPE teachers to see the opportunities of teaching outdoors, but teachers across the curriculum.

Luke  is a former teacher and is the current Education advisor for Outdoors Victoria for over 4 years where he works with numerous stakeholders including teaching organisations, Schools, and the Department of Education to encourage outdoor learning across the curriculum. Furthermore, he is a University Lecturer at Australian Catholic University in Outdoor Education, PE, Health and ICT. Luke is the founder of one of Western Victoria’s first Aerial (drones) & VR imaging companies with clients including Universal Studios Hollywood, Warner Brothers Hollywood and the AFL to name a few.

You can find the toolkit here: https://www.outdoorsvictoria.org.au/outdoor-learning/