Gathered: on Island Time
Space to think, together
A small gathering of OTs on Nusa Island, Papua New Guinea, to find clarity
and possibility for meaningful, aligned ways of working.
10-17 July 2027 · Nusa Island Retreat, New Ireland Province
8 places · Partners and families welcome
Led by Bronwyn Paynter (NatureOT) & Kate Hardy (NatureOT and Nusa Island Retreat, her home!)
Amazing! Where are the details?Imagine...
a week where your ideas finally have space to breathe.
Gathered has a clear intention: to give you the time, space and community to find clarity about what meaningful, aligned work looks like for you as an OT, whether that means deepening what you already do or imagining something new.
Mornings in conversation with open-minded OTs.
Afternoons in warm, clear water, under the palms, in a hammock or sitting with a thought, allowing it to become clear.
Evenings with delicious food including locally sourced seafood, barefoot restaurant vibes & opportunity for early nights.
The feeling of being nurtured, cared for and cared about.
Shaped with gratitude alongside the 22 OTs who helped co-design the experience.
What you'll find
- Time to think, dream and create, with people who "get it"
- The Gathered experience, refined since 2019, so you don't have to "OT yourself"
- A well established eco-retreat, a rich culture and opportunity for lasting relationships
What you won't find
- PowerPoint slides,
- a packed schedule or luxury-resort bubble,
- pressure to go home with a five-year (or even a 90 day) plan
- fixed ideas on "right and wrong" ways to practice OT
You don't have to leave the people you love behind!
Partners and families are welcome to come with you, enjoy the island and join some of the shared experiences (such as snorkelling & community visits) while we gather.
Create an aligned future together.
Who it's for
This gathering is for OTs who are ready to make time for their ideas.
You might have a project you've been dreaming about, a passion you want to bring into your work, or a question about what your OT work could become.
You're ready to give it real time, in good company, away from the everyday.
You might be:
- working alone and craving connection with big-thinking and like-minded OTs
- holding a vision for how you'd like to work that no one around you quite gets yet
- craving a way of working that deeply nurtures your own wellbeing
- loving your work and wondering where it could go next
- at a turning point, and ready to step towards prioritising alignment
You are so welcome...
Practising OTs, academics and students are all welcome, from anywhere in the world.
Partners and families are welcome to travel with you and enjoy Nusa while we gather.
Bring your curiosity, generosity and a willingness to dream out loud with others.
A day on Island time
How the days unfold
Ease into the day
You wake slowly to a nature note at your door: a small invitation to notice the tide, the birdsong, the warmth already in the air.
On some mornings, there's optional yin yoga, focus on sensation and breath, movement or meditation as the island wakes.
Morning Circle
After breakfast we gather for a while on a deck over water.
A theme is explored, ways of thinking are curiously considered and a question is offered, for you to carry with you into the day.
Connected 'doing' with people and place
Some days we snorkel over reefs or wrecks, island-hop by boat, or mindfully pass time learning coconut weaving with women from the village.
Other days the afternoon is simply yours.
Sharing wisdom and inspiration
In the late afternoon we gather together to share what's emerged.
Some nights there's a story or a poem; one night there's a fire.
You sleep early, and well.
Where it can lead
In 2024, Kate came to a Gathering at The Sanctuary. Now we're collaborating professionally to bring this Gathering to Nusa.
That's what can grow when OTs have real time together. You might leave with a thinking partner, a future collaborator, or the imprint of someone who has deeply inspired you.
What's included
The arc of the gathering
Before:
Preparing to Gather
- NatureOT Peaceful Planning Program (online + group video gatherings in February 2027), to build clarity before you come - optional
- Thinking prompts: seeds planted in the weeks leading up to the Gathering.
- Two co-creation calls (February and May 2027): meet each other and shape the week. Join in as much or as little as suits you.
If you'd rather simply arrive and receive the experience, that's completely okay.
In Place:
Seven days on Nusa Island
This isn't just a week 'away'
- A daily facilitated gathering, with reflection carried into the day
- Guided processes, journalling (words, paint, photos) and conversation where every perspective is welcome
- Proven frameworks, lightly held: the Kawa Model, the Burn In model around a real fire, frameworks beyond OT for strengths based planning, possibility thinking and service design, including co-creation, community development, Appreciative Inquiry, Innovation in service design.
- Dedicated one-to-one time for every participant, with Bronwyn and with Kate
- A closing harvest to gather and celebrate what emerged
After:
Holding the experience
- An integration call about two weeks later (tentatively Sunday 1 August 2027), to keep hold of your insights and plans
- A record of hours for your CPD record (if relevant)
- A reflective practice guide to support your connection with what emerged for you from Gathered
My time, fully given
Many OTs ask to brainstorm ideas with me (especially about nature based OT), and day to day I can't give those conversations the time they deserve.
Gathered is different. It's the most time I make myself available anywhere in my work.
For seven days I'm there for the whole experience: in the morning circle, on the boat, over dinner, and in allocated one-to-one time with each of you.
I'll also be tending my own energy across the week, because modelling regenerative ways of working is part of what we're exploring together.
Bronwyn
YOU MIGHT BRING ME A CONVERSATION ABOUT…
- Upstream OT: the causes of health, wellbeing and flourishing
- Nature-based ways of working - who, how, where and why
- OT in workplaces and organisations
- Creating a role where there’s no template, and OT in non-traditional places
- Climate change, conservation and permaculture, through an OT lens
- Funding (yes, funding!)
- Crafting an OT career and identity over time
RIGHT NOW I’M EXPLORING…
- Community development
- he concept of “home” for our nervous system
- OT student participatory community projects
- Shifting identity and relationship with nature
- Communicating our value
- Calm marketing
…and whatever you bring.
The Gathered Method
At the heart of the week is Bronwyn's signature Gathered method, refined over years of bringing OTs together in nature around Australia.
It's a sequence of structured reflective processes that unfold across the week, each building on the one before. They're held in conversation, in nature, and in your own quiet time.
Five themes guide us:
-
Connecting with self: who you are, and what matters to you now
-
Remembering the promise of OT: what drew you to this work, and what it can be
-
Centring yourself in your work: your own wellbeing as the foundation, not an afterthought
-
Building confidence in what's possible: for you, and for OT
-
Crafting your work, and life, beyond your current thinking: ideas, next steps and the people to explore them with
The unfolding of each theme is shaped by evidence-based processes and tools, by the people who gather, and by the place.
How the Gathered Method works
The space between
Some of the best ideas don't come from the planned sessions at all. It's what happens when OTs gather in inspiration: an idea surfaces on the drive into town for coffee, or a dinner at the local pub turns into an evening of "what if we…".
Those moments only happen when there's space and time for them. Imagine where the ideas might flow on a boat between islands, or around a fire on the beach.
A rhythm, not a timetable
Intentionally regenerative
What people are saying...
The value of professional gatherings in and with nature
"Taking time and space in nature to be myself with no roles or responsibilities attached was just what my body and mind was craving"
"Learning in nature, connecting with like-minded OTs, opening the mind to new ways of relating to our profession..."
“It was the most valuable multi-day experience I have ever had that has been work related”
“I came away from this filled with excitement and gratitude regarding my career and the ‘where to from here”
The Place
Nusa Island, Papua New Guinea
Nusa is a small island off Kavieng, in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. It has clear water, coral reef, palms, a village and a pace set by the tides.
Held in the unhurried arms of Papua New Guinea, this is a chance to properly step away from the everyday.
Being truly away, with the opportunity to learn about a very different culture, expands our perspectives and changes how we see our work.
Opportunities for 'doing'
As occupational therapists, we know that insight often comes through doing, not just talking. The week is full of opportunities for occupation: moving in the water, walking the island, making with your hands, cooking and sharing food together.
The optional shared experiences below are included in your Nusa Island Retreat package.
Snorkelling
Island Hopping
Island and Village Walk
Local Market Visit
Mumu Cooking OR
Coconut Weaving
Yin Yoga
Your offering
If you feel called to offer the group something such as a movement practice, guided meditation or creative practice, we're very open to other inclusions, and this will take shape with the group who registers.
Connection
We come as guests, with a generous attitude, to learn from the community. How we connect with the community in a meaningful, generous and sensitive way will be shaped by the group of OTs joining the Gathering, and talked through together in our pre-gathering calls
These connections are held by Kate, who has known this community since childhood.
Your hosts
Bronwyn Paynter
Occupational Therapist · Founder, Nature OT
I’ve worked as an OT in Australia for 33 years, mostly in workplaces and the occupation of work, and never in a traditional health system role. I’m an upstream OT at heart: I’m interested in what helps people and organisations flourish.
For the past nine years I’ve explored the evidence on connection with nature, and supported OTs around the world to creatively bring more nature into their lives and work: more than 130 OTs in 12 countries through group coaching, and a community of 3,100 nature-loving OTs online.
I’ve been gathering OTs in nature since 2019. When Kate suggested we gather at Nusa, I knew straight away it was the perfect place: space, time and a real sense of “away” to nurture a small group of OTs in their becoming. And how often do you get to stay on a tropical island where an OT manages the venue?
My bio at a glance: Passionate occupational therapist (undergraduate and postgraduate training) · Permaculture design · Forest and nature therapy guiding · Project management · Work health and safety · Board Director, Outdoor Health Australia · Author (various nature, scope of practice and innovation in OT publications)
Bronwyn
Kate Hardy
Occupational Therapist · Nature OT & Nusa Island Retreat
I’m an Australian OT and yin yoga teacher. My family moved to New Ireland Province in 2007, when I was ten, and that childhood connection to the people and the land brought me back with my partner in 2024 to help manage Nusa Island Retreat.
In Australia I worked as a community-based OT across disability, insurance and workers’ compensation schemes. Here, I’m exploring how OT can support the foundations of health and community development, in line with regenerative tourism: leaving a place and its people better for having been there.
In 2024 I came to Bronwyn’s Gathering at The Sanctuary. That’s where I began shaping how I could practise OT in PNG, and it was the start of the collaboration that has brought this Gathering to Nusa.
I’m so excited to welcome you to my home.
My bio at a glance: occupational therapist · Yin yoga teacher · Manager, Nusa Island Retreat · Community-based OT across disability, insurance and workers’ compensation schemes
Kate
About Bronwyn…
“The definition of professional with a beautiful dose of humanity. I could listen to Bronwyn talk about paint drying if she was passionate about it”
"I serendipitously came across Bronwyn’s work... and am so glad I did"
"The way you bring the group together with calmness, wisdom, honesty and clarity is a gift”
“Bronwyn is one of the most grounded, calm and intentional facilitators I have encountered”
What we can promise, and what we can't
We want to be honest rather than overpromise. We don't, and can't, know exactly how this will unfold, and that's the point.
The heart of it is trust. When people with aligned values and purpose gather intentionally, with space to listen deeply to each other, wisdom and insight emerge in ways we can't forecast. The group that is present, and the conversations unique to you, will shape what this becomes.
This is aligned with our lens as occupational therapists, walking alongside, allowing and supporting solutions to emerge, not having all the answers and being "the expert" in someone else's life.
What we DO promise is care in how it's held: our facilitation, the natural environment, immersion in another culture, and the space that comes from being away on a remote tropical island.
Pricing
The Gathering
$1,600 AUD *
Your Nusa package
$1,970-$3,015 AUD pp
Bring your partner, friend or family
You might like to share this experience with your partner, family or friend. If they're not an OT participating in the Gathering the cost would be the per person Nusa package cost (accommodation, meals, activities). Child minding may be available through Nusa Island Retreat.
Nusa Island Retreat (via Kate as the contact) will advise your group costs and the Nusa Island Travel Wallet (download from this page) includes children's accommodation pricing.
Total cost
Three components:
1) The NatureOT Gathering $1,600 AUD (deposit $400, total due by 12 March 2027)
2) The Nusa Island Retreat package (accommodation, meals, transfers, activities) $1,970 to $3,015 AUD. Deposit 25%, balance due 26 May 2027.
3) Your travel costs - flights, visa, passports, travel insurance (required see Ts&Cs clause 8.2). Your cost and your timing up to you.
How to Book
3 steps
Can we ask a favour?
If you already know you’re coming, please book early. It helps us co-create with you and secure your bungalow preference.
Certainty helps all of us plan and prioritise. And, honestly, it would mean a lot to us to know who the group is early on.
With gratitude,
Bronwyn and Kate
Register
Fill in the short form linked to the pink button below. It takes about five minutes and links to our terms and conditions.
Pay in full or a deposit
Bronwyn emails you an invoice for $1,600AUD, or $400 AUD deposit. Your place is confirmed once payment is received.
Book your Nusa package
Kate contacts you from Nusa Island Retreat to confirm your bungalow and package deposit, and to help with travel and visa questions.
Places are limited to 8 OTs. Partners and family are extra.
Questions?
How do I get there?
Do I need a Visa to enter PNG?
I have more questions about Nusa Island Retreat
Can I bring my partner or family?
Can I share a bungalow?
Can I pay in instalments?
What if I need to cancel?
Does this count as professional development?
Can I just arrive and receive the experience?
A last note...
If you're still reading, something in you may already be leaning in.
You don't have to keep holding your ideas on your own. You just need the time, the place and the people.
This is it.
Not sure?
We highly value human connection. Book a time for a chat.
For the Gathering/NatureOT component? Chat to Bronwyn
Need help with logistics? Check the Nusa Island Retreat FAQs here then ask Kate at info@nusaislandretreat.com