Half of young Australians agree with the statement, “Humanity is doomed”. 75% say the future is frightening. In the midst of an epidemic of mental illness, wars and political breakdown, the climate crisis, the rising cost of living, many of us are feeling anxious about our world. Hope is not lost. But where can we find it?
St George’s presents Clinical Psychologist Dr Leisa Aitken delivering the 2024 Henry Baldwin lecture, exploring how hope has endured through the storms of human history, as well as offering practical advice on how we can have hope today.
Dr Leisa Aitken is a Clinical Psychologist who has been counselling and teaching on mental health and wellbeing for more than 25 years in workplaces, hospitals, churches and private practice. She recently completed her PhD on The Psychology of Hope, inspired by the desire to find practical ways to help her patients be more hopeful. It explores reflections on hope throughout Western history in philosophy, theology and in psychology, as well as her own research on the experience of hoping for Australians. Leisa is married to Michael and they have two adult daughters and a 60kg Rhodesian ridgeback. To manage her own mental health, she paddles an ocean ski (surf ski designed to ride ocean swell) on the beautiful Northern Beaches of Sydney.
