I’M MARK. IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU.

I BELIEVE WE HAVE BECOME DEEPLY DISCONNECTED FROM THE NATURAL SYSTEMS THAT WE LIVE WITHIN. THERE IS A STRONG RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURAL SYSTEMS AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE - MY JOB IS TO HELP AUSTRALIANS RECOGNISE AND HARNESS THAT, SO THEY CAN TAP INTO THIS AND USE IT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE TO LIVE AMAZING LIVES.

So, how did I get here? I started out training as a sport and performance psychologist before applying my understanding of human behaviour to the military. In my 22 years there, including 8 years in the special forces, I was deployed overseas several times, where I observed first-hand how people can both flourish and struggle in the extreme environments of warfare.

Since then I’ve used those skills in a range of settings - from working with the gas industry in Papua New Guinea to the mining industry in Laos, Timor-Leste and Western Australia. I have debriefed winter expeditioners in the Australian Antarctic Program, acted as production psychologist on reality TV shows such as Survivor and SAS Australia, and assisted everyday people going through rapid transformation in front of the camera. Because that’s what people do these days.

I spend my downtime trail-running through some of our spectacular national parks, because it is crucial to my own wellbeing. In other words, I practise what I preach. Hard.

Here’s what I see all around me: people desperately trying to stay afloat amid career, financial and family stresses. And what I know is that the harder people try and outrun this system, the more it is harming our health and our happiness. Ecopsychology treats people as being connected to and part of nature rather than separate from it. Just as nature renews itself each season, we too have the capacity to transform and flourish. Join me as we explore the hard science that unpacks this fascinating and mind-blowing journey ‘back to our true nature’.