Introducing Series Two of the Encounters Podcast: Vibrant Learning and Rewilding Practice
by Jennifer Taylor
When I reflect upon the second series of The Encounters Podcast two words emerge: learning and rewilding. Learning, as it appears in the podcast, is a vibrant process within contemporary person-centred practice and features widely across all episodes. The threads of learning in series two include:
- Making sense of a harmful experience of person-centred therapy
- Embracing sensitivity and love in the face of patriarchal policing
- Learning within private practice
- Navigating sex, sexuality and the body in person-centred practice
- Person-centred therapy as a pedagogical practice
- Student-centred learning and music
- Readiness to be a student of the person-centred approach
- Learning through nature
Turning towards my experience, learning has been integral to my process as presenter and fellow traveller on the podcast. Who I was at the start of recording series two in October 2025 feels different to who I am now in September 2026; ‘through the encounter I am changed’, as the adage goes. I feel stimulated and amazed by the depth and breadth of the episodes and what I’ve learnt from every guest I’ve encountered. Alongside therapy, the wider applications of the person-centred approach have been considered and I sense this will gain more ground in future episodes. Considering therapy alongside wider applications gives me hope for the future; I believe the ingenuity of all our guests will carry the approach forward in different ways. To read more about my personal reflections on each encounter, click here.
In addition to learning, the experiential thread of rewilding practice has featured overtly and subtly across the series. Rewilding is influenced by the concept that the natural world flourishes when there’s diversity. This concept is equally applicable to human systems. Rewilding facilitates and reclaims the counter-cultural and ethical radicalism inherent in the person-centred approach. Rather than being a homogenous lawn, rewilding positions person-centred practice as a diverse, expansive meadow with its own complex, coherent and well-established ecosystem. Overall, rewilding questions ‘givens’ that shape wider therapy cultures and society.
On launching the podcast into the world, it is evident that vibrant learning and rewilding therapy are much required in our mechanistic age. Expectations around client learning within medicalised therapy cultures mirror that of many educational systems: learning is assumed to be a passive, ‘power-over’ endeavour that overlooks human potential and diverse learning styles. Equally, the call for rewilding therapy is all the more imperative given the ubiquity of therapy models that situate human experience within universalising, de-politicised, intervention-based narratives thereby diminishing idiosyncratic flourishing and meaning-making.
In offering the podcasts to you, our valued listeners, Rachael and Kate (the podcast producer) hope you experience your own vibrant learning while potentially discovering opportunities for rewilding. As with series one, rather than structuring the podcasts within a conventional interview format, we communicate a phenomenological, reflecting aloud ‘in-the-moment’ quality by taking an encounter-based approach. Encounter is integral to person-centred theory and practice: there are encounter groups and Peter Schmid considers encounter as integral for being in the world. We wish to promote encounter at every opportunity. By doing so, we hope to continue this radical tradition best articulated by Peter Schmid who powerfully summarised encounter as ‘the sustainable relevance to be surprised and affected’.
To discover more about series two, you can find all episodes here.
The encounter continues!
We are very open to new ideas for podcast episodes, and you are welcome to contact us at:
We are interested in exploring underrepresented areas within person-centred therapy, the person-centred approach (beyond therapy) and any other area of human experience related to person-centred ways of being. These areas could relate to (though not limited to) perspectives on social class, ethnicity, age, disability, and GSRD (gender, sexuality and relationship diversity). We also welcome any other perspectives not covered in series one and two. The floor is always open for consideration of topics so get in touch!
We would like to thank the Person-Centred Association for their ongoing and invaluable support with the podcasts; particularly tPCA’s Chair, Alison Drury and Jenn Taylor. Continuing thanks to Trees Dowson and Nicky Wilson of Nicky Wilson’s Foxy Wheels for the theme music. Many thanks to Trees Dawson for sharing her song, Into the Meadows, in Episode Six.
We hope you enjoy your encounters with the podcasts by listening, reflecting upon and hopefully learning!