It's been a while since I said hi but now we enter Australia's Autumn season, I'm trying to shift from lots of activity to more reflection and writing work. I'd love to hibernate for a while in winter.
My experience of recent months has been 'life is what happens to us, not what we plan'. I had plans and then life disrupted things.
Through Community Praxis Co-op I'm working with the Business Council of Co-ops and Mutuals on helping them set up social care co-ops in Australia. I'm loving this deep dive into cooperative development work. Reach out if you have any interest. Through Community Praxis Co-op we're also working on a disaster recovery project across a number of communities in partnership with Sunshine Coast Council.
In February I was invited to speak at the World Social Forum in Kathmandu/Nepal, and in that trip I strengthened a beautiful relationship with an NGO there called Sahakarmi Samaj (doing wonderful community development work using a Freirean approach). From that a whole bunch of initiatives have started - including a field trip in March 2025, taking 10 Australian's to look at their work and reflect on our own practice.
Rachael and I are soon off to Alice Springs to host a June 19-21st three-day community development and reflective practice workshop (write to me if you're interested in attending as there's a couple of spots left). And then we're off to the UK in October and I'll be speaking in Bristol and then 'headlining' at a social psychology festival in Cardiff. Again, if you're UK based and want to connect, please reach out.
Finally, after a 3 year break, I've dipped my toes back into the academy, taking on a one-day-per week role mentoring Community Development academics at Murdoch University. This also gives me some time to read and write again (I've three books in the pipeline, and more about them in due time).
So there's lots going on both planned and unplanned, but always rich and interesting. In all of it, I'm enjoying watching how life unfolds and the new and old connections made along the way.