I’ve been very fortunate in my career over the last eight years. After rejoining Flinders University, where I originally studied, I transitioned from 10 years of working in child and adolescent mental health into a role that allows me to align my strengths with meaningful work.
I’ve crafted a role that plays to my interests, helped me build a network of valued collaborators, and given me the chance to engage in projects that I believe truly matter. What’s particularly exciting is seeing how projects I once considered separate are converging on core themes. For example, Visualising Mental Health, which started as a ‘side project,’ is now intersecting with my interest in exploring the self, as visual metaphors have proven essential for explaining these concepts. This convergence is even influencing my artwork.
Maybe because of this convergence—or as part of it—I now have a sense of a longer-term vision. I can project forward, beyond just the next year, and imagine what the next few years could look like. So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on my 1, 5, and 10-year plans—a task I don’t think I could have done at earlier stages in my career.
1-Year Plan
For the next year, I expect my work at Flinders to continue (fingers crossed), with stable, foundational elements like maintaining digital channels, delivering therapeutic programs, and running on-demand workshops and presentations. However, there are always new adventures and projects that align with the ongoing development of my work’s core themes.
One such project will be Everyday Mental Health, a course delivered through the Student Health and Wellbeing Blog. I plan to create a series of short video lectures on mental health topics I’ve explored over the past seven years. This feels like a culmination of my thoughts on the mental health concepts that can help people better navigate daily life.
I also hope that Flinders’ new Better U website—a digital magazine covering wellbeing initiatives—will launch. I envision playing a significant role in its development, helping promote the university’s diverse wellbeing culture.
Over the next year, I also want to establish a regular routine of academic writing, taking projects like the Good Vibes Experiment and Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) and sharing those stories in the peer-reviewed literature—something I’ve missed from my previous roles.
Finally, we plan to launch the Positive Shifts behavior course—a flagship Canvas course designed to teach allied health professionals key behavior change skills that will benefit both their clients and their own wellbeing.
Internally, I’m also working on expanding my professional framework around mental health self-care. This framework has helped me organize what I’ve learned about the various types of care people engage in to improve their mental health. Now, I’m looking to deepen my understanding of the “self” in self-care.
5-Year Plan
Assuming I remain in higher education over the next five years, I expect notable shifts as my professional framework continues to expand.
Most likely, I’ll move beyond focusing on individual mental health practices and shift toward community-level interventions. Instead of solely guiding individuals on how to improve their mental health, I’ll start looking at how we can change the university environment itself to encourage and support mentally healthy choices.
This doesn’t mean I’ll abandon individual-focused programs, but I hope to make them more accessible via platforms like Canvas, where they can be engaged with in a more flexible, self-paced manner. Communities could even form around these programs.
Another key theme will be storytelling. I aim to integrate storytelling into my projects, not only for academic publication but as a way to communicate and evaluate our initiatives. This shift will represent personal growth for me, as I begin to see my own experiences as part of the larger narrative.
10-Year Plan
In 10 years, I’ll be 57 years old, and while it’s hard to predict exactly where I’ll be, I can speak to some larger themes.
I hope to be laying down my knowledge base in a structured way, preparing to step back from some areas of my work. Building on the storytelling theme from the five-year plan, I’d like to record key ideas and insights that can be passed on or revisited.
Just as the five-year plan marks a shift from individual to community, by 10 years, I hope to expand my focus even further—to incorporate country—land, sea, sky, climate, and earth. I could see myself transitioning into an environmental and sustainability role, aligning my mental health work with broader efforts to care for the planet.
If I make a career change at this point, it may well be my last one, leading into the phase where I start considering what retirement might look like—health and fate permitting.
The Limitations of Mental Time Travel
I’ve been on this career journey long enough to know that even with the best-laid plans, I’m part of a complex system within other complex systems. The ability to control things with precision is limited. Ten years from now, I may very well look back on this post and think, “What was I thinking?”
However, I still find value in articulating a path forward, even if it’s held lightly. For the first time in my career, I see a coherent trajectory that builds on what I know, what I can do, and what I’m interested in.
In earlier phases of my career, I could plan a year ahead, but it was usually just the logical continuation of existing activities. Now, I see thematic changes on the horizon, and I’ll be honest—I like it.
Thanks for indulging this little trip into my professional future. How clear do the next 1, 5, and 10 years feel for you professionally?
Dr Gareth Furber 