I was talking to a few members of my team this morning via ZOOM, with my hot water bottle on my lap, my coffee on the window sill, and the chickens pecking at my feet in my makeshift office (baby chicks–it’s cold outside) when …Read more
When we are trying to make a change in our lives or we are supporting someone else to make changes, it can be easy to forget how far we’ve come. It can also be hard to measure progress when it is slow or non-linear. …Read more
Social change comes about for a range of reasons. It happens when people become enraged, emboldened, when they feel they have nothing left to lose, or when something happens that they can no longer ignore. It also happens when they feel inspired or moved. …Read more
Ian McBurney partnered with Innovative Resources to create the Talking ecoLogical cards in 2013. A lot has changed in the world since then. We asked Ian to spend some time reflecting on the last 20 years. Can you tell us a bit about the …Read more
A survey of over one thousand primary teachers done by Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak found that teachers faced significant challenges in moving to remote learning. The majority of teachers were working longer hours, sometimes up to …Read more
Often in human service work, we are focussed on supporting people to find solutions and answers. After all, that’s what we are paid the big bucks to do! But there is a lot that can be said for taking a step back and spending …Read more
Have you ever noticed that when we are nervous, stressed, unsure or anxious, we tend to fiddle? We may scratch our head, pull on our earlobe, pick and unpick the sleeve of our jumper, play with our phone, pen or keys. When we …Read more
Over the weekend I read Austin Kleon’s book, Steal like an artist, in which he says that creative people are excellent burglars. He reckons they steal everything—ideas, structures, techniques and inspiration. This is not plagiarism because they take the ideas of others and remix …Read more
As we continue on this COVID-19 journey, many stories are emerging about the increased rates, and changing face, of family violence. We are also hearing many stories about the creative and innovative ways people are finding to connect with adult survivors and their …Read more
With many kids in Australia (and around the world) starting to return to school after the lockdown, we thought it was a good time to do a quick roundup of the resources we have available for supporting kids to build their social and emotional …Read more
A few years ago I was involved in a project that asked people from various non-Aboriginal organisations (including my own) to self-rate how safe they believed Aboriginal people felt either working in or accessing their service. We then asked Aboriginal colleagues and staff from …Read more
So often in the work we do, we are looking for innovative and creative ways to include the voices of the people we work alongside. This can be particularly challenging if we are working with children. Dr. Lisa Stafford and her team at the …Read more
Recently, Reverend Susan Pickering from the Uniting Church let us know about some YouTube clips she’d created of her reading a series of children’s books. The list of books she read included two Innovative Resources classics, Captain Grumpy (written by Russell Deal and illustrated …Read more
When you are already managing a mental health issue, the additional stress of social isolation can be particularly tricky to navigate. As we launch the new digital version of the Eating Disorders & Other Shadowy Companions, we thought it was worth spending some time …Read more
As parents, grandparents, carers, teachers and other people who support children, one of our priorities is to keep kids safe. Of course, this isn’t always in our control. Unless we wrap our kids in cotton wool and never let them explore the world, they …Read more
When a crisis hits, many people who have never accessed services before suddenly need support, placing additional strains on already stretched services. Organisations offering support around mental health, family violence, housing, food, financial counselling, AOD, amongst other things, are all under pressure at the …Read more
The importance of mental health is something we are continuously learning more about. Mental health impacts on so many areas of our lives, from relationships and work to our physical health and sense of worth. Any one of us can experience challenges to our …Read more
Digital communication tools are not new. For many years, people working in human services and education have been using digital tools to facilitate conversations. Given that lots of clients and students are ‘digital natives’, and they often feel more comfortable using tech-based tools and …Read more
World Bank figures suggest that there are around 370 million Indigenous people worldwide in over 90 countries. While many countries have worked hard to improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people, the World Bank notes that most Indigenous communities are still significantly disadvantaged …Read more
The Five Column Tool is a resource that has been used to structure strengths-based conversations for many years. This versatile tool was pioneered in the 1990s by Di O’Neil, Wayne McCashen and others working at St Luke’s Anglicare (now part of Anglicare Victoria). It …Read more
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