Author: dsoulgen
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Why I Keep Coming Back to Working with Young People
From accidental to intentional youth worker: a reflection on young people’s strengths, community contribution and staying connected to the heart of youth work.
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From Black Opals to Quirky Castles: Creativity, Humour and Community in Lightning Ridge
Black opals, handmade castles and a giant emu: what Lightning Ridge can teach us about local gifts, creative identity and strengths-based community development.
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Listening to all our voices: young people imagining the future of Lithgow
How creative facilitation and a strengths-based approach helped young people explore their town, share their experiences and put forward ideas for change. What happens when we give young people space to tell us how they really feel about their community, including the things we might find uncomfortable to hear? At the Lithgow Youth Summit in…
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The Forgotten Art of Community Development
I notice the person standing at the edge of the room. I get curious about the locked garden, the underused hall, the young person quietly shuffling a deck of cards while everyone else talks. I want to know what people care about, what they’re good at, and what might become possible if the right people,…
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How to Facilitate an Appreciative Inquiry Workshop
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) isn’t something we teach – it’s something we experience.When people discover how different it feels to talk about what gives life, rather than what’s wrong, they start to see change begin immediately. Whether you’re working with young people, community leaders, or organisational teams, here’s a simple guide to help you facilitate your…
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Designing for the Bump
I keep coming back to this idea lately: the power and beauty of the small. Don’t get me wrong. We need the big stuff too. Better systems, better policy, better services, better places, more investment. Absolutely. But while we’re trying to change all of that, what can we do now, with what’s already around us?…
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Podcast Episode: From Passion to Action: Growing a Community of Cooks River Changemakers
Pip: What if the first question you asked a community wasn’t “what’s broken here” but “what do you already have?” That’s the thread running through dsoulgen’s recent work, and it turns out the answer is usually more interesting than the problem. Mara: This episode follows one extended case study — a community development program built…
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From Youth Voice to Youth-Led Possibility: Co-designing a Social Enterprise in Rozelle
What changes when we stop asking young people only what they need – and start asking what they care about, what strengths they bring and what they would like to create? In 2020, Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre contracted Soulgen to lead a three-month youth consultation and co-design process across Rozelle, Balmain, Lilyfield and the wider Inner…
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From Passion to Action: Growing a Community of Cooks River Changemakers
What happens when you bring together people who care deeply about a place — not to tell them what needs fixing, but to discover what they already have and what they might create together? In 2019, Soulgen founder Dimitrios Papalexis was contracted by the Cooks River Alliance to facilitate a series of workshops for the…
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Longing to Belong: An Experiential Approach to Belonging
Everyone seems to be talking about loneliness and belonging these days.Maybe we are reaching some kind of collective realisation about how disconnected we have become – and how deeply many of us are searching for belonging.Perhaps. But I don’t want to jump onto a trend. I arrived at these questions through my own life, work…