By Max Davies
WOMEN’S Health Goulburn North East has been hosting a series of online panels to encourage discussion about caring, connecting and contributing to the community now and into the future.
Held in September and October, with the third and final panel to be held tomorrow evening, the Regions reIMAGINED sessions provide an opportunity for community members to talk with a variety of experienced people from across Victoria about their key values and areas that need attention for the future.
The group also works in primary prevention to help create a safer environment for all members of the community.
Women’s Health Goulburn North East chief executive Amanda Kelly said a focus of the panels was to change the way people go about their lives hoping to improve the situation for everyone.
“It’s really about creating an environment where things that we don’t like don’t thrive, and vice versa,” she said.
“We’ve been using these sessions to talk with the community to discuss the things that we want for the future that we might not have now, especially in terms of wellbeing and caring for each other.”
The first panel, in September, focused on the concept of caring for communities, with panellists talking with attendees about the ideas of care, how people value care, what it means for life and community, and what improvements to infrastructure and policies can be put in place to allow people to better care for each other.
The October panel brought forward the theme of connecting with communities, discussing what constitutes connection in the world, how connection is valued, reasons why people need to connect and different improvements that can be made to boost meaningful connections.
Ms Kelly said the panels were about changing the ways in which people express their feelings and opinions to help make them into more constructive ideas for greater improvement.
“We can be bombarded with negative comments and thoughts but we want to take that and turn it into something that can be used to improve the future and the way that we look out for each other,” she said.
“Caring for the community is not just someone fulfilling the traditional carer role, but instead focusing on different ways we can show more general care for the broader community.”
The third panel, on tomorrow evening in conjunction with the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, will discuss contributing to communities.
It will talk about themes such as what constitutes contribution, how to recognise contribution in others and ourselves, how people value contribution, and ways in which contribution can be improved to support the needs of the community.
All three themes are interconnected, and the panels support discussion by presenting ideas through different lenses, identifying the needs of different people and brainstorming ideas for what is needed for the future.
Ms Kelly encouraged people to attend the forum and share their opinions on some of the more important aspects that affected their way of living.
“Participation is really important and hearing different perspectives and opinions can be very refreshing and I encourage people to come along and share their thoughts for the future of the community,” she said.
Tomorrow’s panel will be from 6.30pm online via Zoom, with bookings essential.
