ZOE FOWLER

I'm really interested in metaphor. And I just asked Margerit, do you have magpies? Because I had visions of coming up here and using that metaphor and then you'd all sit and look blankly at me. I thought I came here and, like a magpie, I swooped down upon all these things. I believe that all that glitters can be somebody's gold. So I want to tell you about eight things which have glittered for me and which I'll swoop down on.

• Canada is a really big place.
• Importance of hope and vision.
• As practitioners we become holders of the stories of others.
• Theory needs to be rooted in the ground – we can be the theorists of practice.
• Importance of puzzle and play in research.
• The journey can be the destination.
• Optimism is the eternal condition.
• Believing we can make a difference.

First of all, kind of light-heartedly, Canada is a really big place! I've spent every night this week looking at my map of Canada. I now know that Prince Edward Island is on the east and some places aren't. And so I've got to go home and get another map!

Another thing is the importance of hope and vision in nurturing resistance and resilience. That really came out of my sessions with Jenny Horsman in the morning and the sharing of her hope, her vision. As practitioners, we have become holders of the stories of others, releasing them with some of the power they held out. That's really re-impressioned me in terms of my practice as well, this idea of being able to make a change.

We can become theorists for our own practice, if we have the confidence. And I felt so much of this conference has been about sharing vision and sharing hope, so we've all developed in our confidence. And I think that is tremendously important.

I learned about the importance of puzzle and play in research. As I point to my research, it all got a little bit serious and a little bit linear and this re-introduction of the ideas of puzzle and play were really important to me. The road is made as one walks and the journey can be the destination.

Finally, optimism can be a terminal condition.

I'm absolutely amazed I've met so many truly remarkable people and I'm so pleased that I came. It's meant a tremendous amount to me as a person as well as a researcher and as well as a practitioner. When I go back to my practice, it's been a conference about believing in ourselves. Believing that our work has validity. Believing that we are sometimes wiser than we know and believing that we can make a difference. So thank you everybody.