What a delight it has been to host some events in person recently! It has reminded me just how important it is to be together with people in person. I couldn’t believe I was meeting people for the first time in person, even though I’d known them for over two years!
International speakers in Canberra
Janet Klees and Selena Blake from Ontario, Canada, arrived in Australia last week. Unfortunately, they didn’t arrive in time to present at the home workshop on the 18th of October. There had been some flight complications: need I say more?
However, we were thrilled that twenty people still came to an alternative event about home that we put together in a day. We shared good information, good conversation, and good food with good company. Being together for the morning was appreciated by everybody, especially me!
After recovering from their 37-hour journey, Janet and Selena spent some time with the Imagine More team. From our conversations, it became clear that people with disability face the same barriers regardless of where they live. Therefore, we can implement solutions that work in Canada and vice versa.
Janet is currently travelling and speaking to audiences across Australia. She’ll return to Canberra to present two upcoming workshops in November. The first is about supports for decision-making, and the second is about imagining home.
Family Leadership weekend
Imagine More is sponsoring twelve people from the ACT to attend a family leadership weekend in Adelaide this weekend. We recognise the importance of investing in family leadership, and we are thrilled to be part of this national event.
Attending families will
- spend some time exploring the various forms of leadership
- sharpen their critical analysis skills to look beyond shiny new models to see things for what they are
- come away with some ideas around
- deepening relationships for their family member with disability and
- getting the support right.
Some of these families will also take part in tomorrow’s Microenterprise event in Adelaide. I’m looking forward to finding out what is happening in this realm across Australia. We’ll also discuss how we can better support the establishment of Microenterprise, one person at a time, across Australia.
I’m sure the families travelling to Adelaide this weekend will come back with many ideas and insights. I can’t wait to provide opportunities for them to share these with other interested families in the coming weeks and months.
This article was first published in our newsletter on 27 October 2022