Soulgen

Category: Uncategorised

  • The Art of “Pestering”: A Love Letter to Community Builders

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    There’s an aspect of community building that rarely gets named – let alone celebrated. It’s the quiet, persistent work of inviting people, again and again, even when responses are slow, energy is low, or enthusiasm feels uncertain. I sometimes jokingly call it the art of pestering. Not the kind that pressures or coerces, but the…

  • 🌿 The Real Value of Asset-Based Community Development Training

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    Why Councils and Community Organisations Keep Calling for ABCD Across councils, youth services, libraries, placemaking teams, neighbourhood centres, and community organisations, one theme has become clear over the last decade: we need approaches that move beyond deficit-based thinking and activate the strengths already present in our communities. That’s where Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) training continues…

  • How to Naturally Turn Any Project into Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) – Without Forcing It

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    So many of us work inside systems – councils, NGOs, services, schools, health, and community programs – where projects already come with agendas, KPIs, timelines, templates, and reporting frameworks. And yet… beneath the forms and frameworks, there is something deeply human:✨ People who care✨ Communities with gifts✨ Stories wanting to be heard✨ Possibilities waiting to…

  • Co-Creating Social Cohesion: A Soulgen Action-Research & Community Healing Initiative

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    Over recent months, many people across our communities have been carrying a heavier emotional load than usual. There is grief. There is fear. There is fragmentation and uncertainty. And alongside all of that, there is also a deep longing – for connection, belonging, safety, and hope. Moments like these remind us that social cohesion is…

  • When a Strengths-Based Approach Is Truly Tested

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    A strengths-based approach isn’t truly tested when you’re surrounded by people who already agree with you.It’s tested when you step outside your echo chamber and immerse yourself in community – especially in the moments that stretch you. Critical incidents.Grief.Burnout.Conflict.Politics, competing priorities, funding constraints, and sector limitations. Moments where it would be easier to default to…

  • Holding the Whole

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    Ripples from Bondi: What social cohesion is, what it isn’t – and what it will take now I’m finding it hard to find the right words for what has unfolded over recent days. Across Bondi, Sydney, and beyond, it has felt like a dark cloud has descended at the very end of the year –…

  • 🔥 Why I Don’t Run “Traditional Workshops

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    And How Experiential, Participatory Approaches Help Learning Come Alive People often notice that my workshops feel different.Less lecture. More connection. More movement. More conversation.More… life in the room. There’s a reason for that. Slides and handouts absolutely have their place – I still use them as visual anchors, springboards, and prompts – but they don’t…

  • 🌿 Beyond Empowerment: How ABCD Activates Youth & Community Potential

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    Across councils, youth services, libraries, neighbourhood centres and community organisations, one aspiration is repeated again and again: “We want meaningful youth participation. We want community engagement, we want empowerment. We want youth-led practice.” But in the rush to “empower” young people, our sector often relies on approaches that are important yet incomplete: Rights-Based, Participation-Based, and…

  • 🌿 The Heart of a Community Builder

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    People often ask me what it takes to be a good community builder.I usually answer: a lot of heart. 😄Community builders (yes, youth workers too – though this piece is speaking mainly to the community-development crew… and maybe also to those of us who are both 👋). Whether you do it formally through your organisation,…

  • 🌿 Being With, Not Fixing: A Soulgen Approach to Critical Incident Response

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    How People Reconnect with Themselves Again After Rupture 🌱 A Note Before You Read Most people know my work through Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), co-design, youth participation, social cohesion, and strengths-based practice. But alongside this proactive, community-building work, I also walk with schools, councils, workplaces, and community organisations in the days and weeks after a…