We gather to exchange ideas.

On 14 March, Rachel Callander addressed us with the theme The Art and Science of Using Words to Heal at our very first Salon. And a blazingly great first Salon it was.

Naomi Keyte opened the room with Greenhill, a song she wrote during Covid about finding space and perspective, softening everyone for the delivery of Rachel’s session.

Rachel is an advocate and educator on how the first words used at diagnosis or in a care setting critically shape how a patient, or carers of people, perceive their outcomes: the words can allow a person to be their best and find meaning, even in pain; or they can create anger, mistrust, frustration, and can break down the crucial relationships between those who need help and support, and those who provide it.

To a room of 60 people, Rachel again spoke of how we use words to hurt or heal. We broke into workshops where people recalled stories in their own lives where words used isolated and then found new ways of how we can use more human, warm and embracing language to warm, move forward and feel safe.

Attendee Natalie Wood said “It was a wonderful evening – incredibly inspiring and uplifting and provided some incredible insights to apply with our families here at the WCHN.” 

Thank you to Rebecca Graham and The Women’s and Children’s Hospital for sponsoring this event and being able to see our vision.

Rachel’s website

On the 23rd May Dr Ruth De Souza facilitated a workshop with the theme of Building Cultural Safety. Ruth is a nurse, educator, facilitator, mentor, researcher, consultant and writer who migrated to Boon Wurrung country from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She has wide ranging expertise in cross-cultural engagement, having family origins in Goa, being born in Tanzania, and being raised in Kenya, The Kingdom of Tonga and Aotearoa New Zealand.

We all have culture which we express in observable ways, how we interact, what we value and hold to be true. No culture is better than another. As compassion revolutionaries we can aim to create inclusive spaces where we all can bring our best and highest selves. At the same time, we can be mindful of how our environments impede our ability to unleash our unlimited potential.

The focus of this beautiful gathering was all about equity, justice and cultural safety in both health and creative arts settings. Ruth invited the audience to bring an object with them that spoke to them as cultural beings. People shared personal stories attached to an array of personal objects and memorabilia. Objects ranged from a cast iron cooking pot, lavender, an audio recording of magpies warbling, hand blown glass, significant pieces of jewellery and art.

A participant has said in regards to attending this session, “The cells in my body have changed.”

We need to be working towards a compassionate curiosity about how race, cultural differences, racial bias may be at play in our work. This workshop underscored the importance of assuming there may be unconscious biases at work with respect to race. This might be overt or subtle. Ruth encouraged everyone to create environments that celebrate the courage to explore racial bias in all its forms.

Ruth’s website

On August 1, psychiatrist Duncan McKellar shared stories from his book An Everyone Story, and personal experiences of supporting health care clinicians who were working in the aged care and dementia spaces via the internet from his desk in Edinburgh. Duncan was joined by Erin McKellar (composer, vocalist and Duncan’s daughter) as they took us on a storytelling journey, punctuated with beautiful songs from their musical Box of Memories.

“How do we maintain hope that things can be better? And how do we manage our empathic distress?“

We need to start with ourselves. Self-awareness of our own emotions is key, and we need to have practices in place that allow us to regulate our emotions as we encounter consumers and colleagues who are distressed. Duncan reminded us that there is a difference between empathy and compassion and suggested that while ‘compassion fatigue’ is often referenced, it is empathic distress that we struggle with and that leads us to burnout.

Duncan offered us his 5 M’s that support him to manage his own empathic distress and to promote compassionate action for ourselves and others.

Go to Duncan’s LinkedIn

Mapping Utopias was a workshop that was initially developed for an audience of social change makers from across the world at the Skoll World Forum, Oxford. Mary has continued to build these ideas and develop beautiful invitations to map the unseen, the world of possibility that exists, often unnamed, every time we gather.

Mapping Utopias workshop considered the past, present and future possibilities. And Salon participants were be asked to dream and to forecast; to map and to mine; to [re]discover a future yet undescribed.

“Cartographers refer to the areas of land not yet mapped as ‘sleeping beauties’. These blank spaces exist but have not yet been named or noted. Our lives are also filled with sleeping beauties, places teeming with possibility and reason for hope, but as yet unnamed.”—Mary Freer