Gina Chick is a rewilding facilitator, adventurer, writer and speaker.
Gina was one of ten participants in the first series of Alone Australia, made by iTV and screened on SBS Television in 2023. After 67 days of unforgettable moments of searing vulnerability, Gina was the last person standing, and the second woman to win an Alone solo challenge. Her determination, passion, and love of the natural world endeared her to more than 5.5 million people around Australia.
Gina's nature connection programmes weave ancestral hunter-gatherer technologies into modern life. She runs Rewild Your Child camps eight weeks a year, where 200 people come together to create a village in the wilderness, focusing on nature connection.
These are Australia's first rewilding family camps and have been running for over a decade. Gina also runs solo wilderness rite of passage programmes and group survival quests.
Gina's presence is electric. She taps into universal chords of human experience, drawing from her experience and adventures worldwide to offer pathways through the wilderness within and without. Her stories of challenges, redemption and inspiration sing with warmth, depth and humour and offer resolution to questions of belonging and connection that most humans struggle with. She is a 5Rhythms dance meditation teacher and singer-songwriter and often incorporates somatics and even songs into her presentations. An hour with Gina is a journey through a vastly textured landscape, an adventure likely to leave you feeling inspired and connected and ready to embrace the wild in all its forms, possibly even without shoes!
Writing is in Gina Chick's genes. Her grandmother, Charmian Clift, was an author, essayist and Australia's first female columnist in the early 60's. Charmian married George Johnstone (My Brother Jack) and they lived together on Hydra with Leonard Cohen and bohemian expats. Charmian's teenage indiscretion, an illegitimate daughter, was given up for adoption. Gina's mum, Suzanne Chick, who, after finally discovering her mother's identity at 48, wrote her own book, Searching For Charmian, which was shortlisted for the NBC Banjo Award.
Gina's articles have been published in The Guardian, news.com.au, Mamamia and SBS online. Her debut memoir will be published in October 2024 with Simon & Schuster.
Talking Points
Resilience in the Wilderness: Survival Lessons from Rewilding
Gina Chick, an international rewilding facilitator, has mastered the art of survival and resilience through profound connections with nature. Drawing inspiration from her transformative 67-day solo survival in the subzero Tasmanian wilderness, Gina offers an enlightening perspective on human tenacity, adaptability, and the age-old wisdom of our ancestors. This presentation sheds light on the strength of the human spirit when faced with adversity and showcases how embracing our inherent wild nature can guide us through life's toughest challenges.Resilience in the Wilderness: Survival Lessons from Rewilding
Key Takeaways:
- Ancient Wisdom in Modern Times: Understand how ancestral hunter-gatherer strategies can cultivate resilience and inform our response to challenges today.
- Lessons from the Tasmanian Wilderness: Gina's survival experiences underscore the importance of adaptability, innovation, and determination in the face of adversity.
- The Power of Deep Connection: Realize how forging deeper connections with nature can bolster mental and emotional resilience.
- Harnessing Internal Strength: Through tales of survival and rewilding, learn practical methods to tap into and amplify your innate strength and resilience.
With Gina's insights, attendees will be equipped with a rejuvenated sense of resilience and survival skills that can be translated into their personal and professional lives.
Video
Alone Australia’s Gina Chick on life, loss and menopause with Leigh Sales | Australian Story
When Gina Chick won the first season of the television survival show Alone Australia, having lasted 67 days in the Tasmanian wilderness, her life changed forever. In a wide-ranging conversation with Leigh Sales, filmed before a live audience, Gina talks about how overwhelmed she has been by the outpouring of love and support she has experienced since Alone Australia and her 2023 episode of Australian Story aired. She explains how that affirmation has helped her make peace with her big, wild personality, something that made life difficult for her socially when she was a child.Gina Chick and the power of being your authentic self | live Q and A | Leigh Sales Australian Story
Leigh Sales sits down with wilderness warrior Gina Chick for a fascinating conversation about her barefoot childhood, preparing for reality TV show Alone Australia, and old friend Hugh Jackman.How Alone Australia winner Gina Chick 'did not suffer' in the wild | Australian Story
A woman of the wild, a beacon of resilience, a force of nature. Gina Chick's formidable skills and fearlessness captured the attention of the public when she spent 67 days alone in the Tasmanian wilderness and won the SBS series Alone Australia. Now the 53-year-old unlikely TV star shares how connecting with nature helped her through life’s darkest moments, including the devastating loss of her daughter, Blaise. Gina says that connecting with nature helps build the skills to live a more fulfilling life. And her message is striking a chord with the public. She now runs bush retreats for adults and children. Australian Story documents a mini Alone, a retreat where women spend days by themselves in the bush with water and bedding and nothing else but their thoughts.
