Author: dsoulgen
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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…
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Children and Young People: Our Most Underutilised Community Asset?
What a walk through Parramatta reminded me about moving beyond identifying assets to connecting and mobilising them – and bringing places to life. At a recent workshop with Cormac Russell, hosted by Resourcing Inclusive Communities in Parramatta, we were invited to do something very simple. Leave the room. Walk through the neighbourhood. And notice the…
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What Kind of Facilitator Are You – Really
The more I do this work, the more I have come to see myself as a facilitator. A facilitator of people, teams, and communities through participatory, strengths-based, and relational processes. This week, as I train another group of Camp Venture facilitators – and as I prepare to head to Geelong for the Australasian Institute of…
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Central Coast Connected Communities: From Consultation to Collective Action
How a social cohesion initiative moved from listening and community engagement to co-design, local experimentation and community-led action.
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Building Social Cohesion the ABCD Way: Reflections from Culture Waves
At first glance, some people may not immediately connect social cohesion programs like Culture Waves with ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development). But for me, the links are very real. Perhaps because I have never experienced ABCD simply as a framework to preach or a workshop to deliver – but something to live and breathe through practice.…