2026 Speaker Claire Arnold-Baker, DCPsych

Presenting: Vita Activa – A call for existential rebirth
Anxiety and death are the bedrock ontological elements of the human condition according to existential philosophy and for many people they create a sense of avoidance and denial in how people life their lives. In this presentation I will draw on Hannah Arendt’s work on vita activa and natality, as well as Nietzsche’s concept of the external recurrence as ways of coming to terms with uncertainty, through living actively, embracing vulnerability through community and finding a pathway to existential rebirth that can create more meaningful lives.

Dr Claire Arnold-Baker is an existential psychotherapist and counseling psychologist, author, researcher and supervisor. She is also Principal of NSPC, London and the Leader for the DCPsych programme, a joint programme with Middlesex University, where she teaches existential modules from introductory workshops to advanced existential theory and practice and existential supervision. Claire also supervises doctoral research projects primarily on the topic of motherhood which is her specialist interest and the focus of her clinical work in her small private practice. Her own research led to her edited book The Existential Crisis of Motherhood, and Claire has a further four books to her name, three of which she co-authored and edited with Emmy van Deurzen as well as numerous chapters and articles. Claire is the current Chair of FETE, the Federation of Existential Therapy in Europe.