Loneliness, leadership, and the power of wilderness: Finding connection with Julie Robinson
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Julie Robinson is an organizational psychologist who founded InVenture after her own healing journey from chronic illness. InVenture offers immersive wilderness experiences in the Karoo that support reflection and growth through embodiment, breathwork, creativity, and time in nature. What started as her personal "inner adventure" has become work that helps leaders, people in transition, and anyone stuck in hypervigilance find space to actually feel.
Julie describes the experiences as sensory expeditions. Participants go completely offline for four nights and five days—phones, watches, and monitoring devices go into a box. No concept of time, no notifications, no responsibilities. Just presence in a harsh, beautiful landscape that requires deep attention. She's noticed something fascinating: women say yes to these experiences more easily, but men keep coming back year after year. The formula is simple—it works, so they repeat it. Men are late adopters of mental health processes, but once they experience something that helps them connect with themselves and other men in a space held by a woman, they return.
The biggest pattern Julie sees is profound disconnection. From ourselves, our partners, our work. We've created elaborate systems of distraction to stay protected and perpetuate our isolation. People ask her constantly: how do I make friends as an adult? The loneliness is pervasive, and when men's loneliness goes unaddressed, it becomes dangerous—manifesting as control, power, violence. Men don't have mentors anymore, don't have spaces to be held and nurtured. Julie's work creates that space, where lying on a hot rock or tasting coffee mindfully or breathing in the natural world brings people back to what makes us human.
Connect with Julie Robinson:
Website: https://theinventure.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theinventure/
Follow Carly on:
Website: https://onthecouchwithcarly.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfBi56xQookfRGL3zvWVzCg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onthecouchwithcarly/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onthecouchwithcarly/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@onthecouchwithcarly
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/on-the-couch-with-carly/id1497585376
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3t7A2FMnISQ2fz9D5p0Xuw
Julie describes the experiences as sensory expeditions. Participants go completely offline for four nights and five days—phones, watches, and monitoring devices go into a box. No concept of time, no notifications, no responsibilities. Just presence in a harsh, beautiful landscape that requires deep attention. She's noticed something fascinating: women say yes to these experiences more easily, but men keep coming back year after year. The formula is simple—it works, so they repeat it. Men are late adopters of mental health processes, but once they experience something that helps them connect with themselves and other men in a space held by a woman, they return.
The biggest pattern Julie sees is profound disconnection. From ourselves, our partners, our work. We've created elaborate systems of distraction to stay protected and perpetuate our isolation. People ask her constantly: how do I make friends as an adult? The loneliness is pervasive, and when men's loneliness goes unaddressed, it becomes dangerous—manifesting as control, power, violence. Men don't have mentors anymore, don't have spaces to be held and nurtured. Julie's work creates that space, where lying on a hot rock or tasting coffee mindfully or breathing in the natural world brings people back to what makes us human.
Connect with Julie Robinson:
Website: https://theinventure.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theinventure/
Follow Carly on:
Website: https://onthecouchwithcarly.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfBi56xQookfRGL3zvWVzCg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onthecouchwithcarly/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onthecouchwithcarly/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@onthecouchwithcarly
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/on-the-couch-with-carly/id1497585376
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3t7A2FMnISQ2fz9D5p0Xuw
Chapters
- 00:14 Introduction to Julie Robinson and InVenture
- 01:59 How InVenture emerged from Julie's healing journey with chronic illness
- 03:46 The modalities: talk, embodiment, breathwork, creativity, and nature
- 09:51 Going completely offline: no phones, watches, or concept of time
- 13:03 People's inability to create space for themselves
- 18:24 Deep seated loneliness and isolation in men
- 19:21 Why men return year after year but struggle with that first step
- 22:27 Men are better at self-care and giving themselves permission
- 34:17 Patterns: profound disconnection from ourselves and partners
- 36:44 How do I make friends as an adult?
- 40:40 Men don't have mentors anymore
