news

Think Equal pilot program launched in Ballarat

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 04:55:07 GMT

Building Compassion in Early Childhood: Think Equal Launches in Ballarat

Compassionate Ballarat is proud to support a new initiative helping to build a more compassionate future - starting with our youngest community members.

In March, the Think Equal pilot program was launched in Ballarat by Think Equal's Australian Country Director, Emma Welsh. T he program aligns strongly with Compassionate Ballarat’s commitment to fostering kindness, inclusion and connection across our community. We are grateful for Emma’s support in bringing this important work to Ballarat.

Working in partnership with the City of Ballarat , the program will support children at Vickers Street Kindergarten and Girrabanya Children’s Centre to build emotional awareness, resilience and a sense of belonging.

By nurturing compassion from an early age, we are helping to shape a more connected and caring Ballarat for the future.

Read the article in The Ballarat Times to learn more

Compassionate Ballarat Featured in Global Conference

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 01:38:52 GMT

The Charter for Compassion recently held its first ever global conference and Compassionate Ballarat was accepted to present. This conference served as a vibrant platform for sharing insights, and actionable ideas to foster a more compassionate and equitable world. You can listen to the presentation on the history and work of Compassionate Ballarat

New Need Help Brochure

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Fri, 02 May 2025 00:42:29 GMT

Do you need help or know someone who does? If you do, then this booklet is for you as it brings together all the food, shelter, support services, and learning services across Ballarat into one place. To make it easier in these cost of living times this booklet provides direct contact details, so in most cases you won’t need to go online. This 2025 version has been updated and so provides many more services than our previous brochure. Let’s look after each other in Ballarat.

2024 National Day of Compassion

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 02:58:37 GMT

Each year the Australian Compassion Council holds a National Day of Compassion, to provide a meaningful opportunity for all Australians to participate in learning about and in practicing compassion. This is the fourth year this National Day has been convened and each National Day has a theme and in 2024 our Theme is Compassion and Deep Connection which featured six facets of deep connection including: Contested spaces - Indigenous Justice - Peace Culture - Repairing Relationships - Innate Connection with our Environment - Dealing with our Distracted World.

The National Day started with a launch that included presentations from the CEO of the global Charter for Compassion, Marilyn Turkovich on the Charter’s involvement in the 19th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates – with the Australian Charter Ambassador, Hugh Mackay, AO on Deep Connection in Community - and with the National Lead of the Australian Compassion Council, Dr Lynne Reeder on a Compassionate City project entitled Seeds of Compassion along with some inspiring young students and their compassionate wishes for their city.

You can access the video recordings of this day here:

Seeds of Compassion – Final Report

brett@cherrybomb.com.au (Brett Allen) — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 02:52:45 GMT

The purpose of this project was to plant seeds of compassion to promote Ballarat as a caring city underpinned by the compassionate wishes of its future leaders. Nearly 100 wishes were received from Ballarat students in Year 6 and Year 10 classes and the collected wishes were subject to a content analysis and were written up under the following five headings:

1) INCLUSION - ACCEPTANCE – BELONGING

2) RESPECT - UNITY – PEACE

3) SAFE – PROTECTED – COMPASSIONATE

4) COHESION – HARMONY – EQUALITY

5) THRIVING – MEANING – POTENTIAL

The student’s wishes will be distributed across Ballarat, and they will also be circulated to cities around the world who have signed the Charter for Compassion. By sharing this report globally, we offer these cities a valuable demonstration project for them to consider replicating, and Compassionate Ballarat will continue to work with the City Council to make tangible, as many of these wishes as possible.

Compassion and Care Award 2024 Award Winner - Maggie Phillips

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 03:44:15 GMT

In 2024 the Compassion and Care Award was won by Maggie Phillips for her participation in the World's Greatest Shave and fundraising for the Leukaemia Foundation to spread awareness and educate us all about the 140,000 families who face blood cancer right now, and that it takes the lives of 16 people every day. Maggie’s efforts in raising money goes towards those individuals in the community suffering, and into research to prevent future pain. Maggie shows true compassion and care for members of the community which we are very grateful for.

In 2024 the finalists in this category included: Adelle Weidemann, Charlotte Gibson, Eva Xie, Madelaine Hutchinson and Maggie Phillips.

Compassionate Ballarat congratulates all the award finalists and winner for the compassionate work they do in the community and in recognition Ben Kelly, Chair of Compassionate Ballarat personally presented this Award to Maggie.

Seeds of Compassion – A Joint Project Between the City of Ballarat and Compassionate Ballarat

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 03:57:35 GMT

With many recent traumas in Ballarat, the City of Ballarat approached Compassionate Ballarat about a healing project that might bring the city together. In response CB suggested a project which involved planting seeds of compassion to promote Ballarat as a caring city through the compassionate wishes of its future leaders. CB members Dr Lynne Reeder and Mary Darcy developed a teacher’s guide to assist schools in gathering those wishes from Year 6 and Year 10 students.

On Friday 26 July this project was launched by Mayor Des Hudson who invited the students to hand their written wishes to him, and to other adults present as a ‘call to action’ for the students’ wishes for our city to come true. The outcome of this project will be a book that will comprise all the wishes from participating students and be will be distributed to other compassionate cities

Download and read the article.

This story has also been covered in the Ballarat Times
https://timesnewsgroup.com.au/ballarat/news/a-compassionatecall-to-action/

Tale of Many Cities

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 22:05:48 GMT

Communities and residents who are supported to connect, do well, making the creation of social contexts for cooperation and caring, timely and important work. Dr Lynne Reeder reflects on Ballarat post recent tragedies.

https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/8619926/opinion-focus-on-creating-a-compassionate-ballarat-after-tragedy/

In recent times Ballarat has been in the news for all the wrong reasons – fires – mine collapse, and the deaths of three women, two of which were allegedly at the hands of their male partners. The national media wonders if the city will ever recover.

While these recent events have meant that the media spotlight has been on the trauma in our city, it’s also important to acknowledge the complexity of who we are – because in addition to being a city that has recently experienced trauma, Ballarat is also a Welcoming city, a Garden city, an Historic city, a Creative city, a Sporting city, and yes, a Compassionate

city.

Holding all these identities together as we continue to develop an overarching narrative of our city is worthwhile, because we know that communities and residents who are supported to connect, do well. The need to create social contexts for cooperation and caring is timely and important work.

In his latest book of non-fiction, The Way We Are the social scientist Hugh Mackay AO writes that humans are born to cooperate, communicate, connect, and contribute - that being human is a shared experience and not an individual one. He notes that we need our communities to nurture us and provide a sense of belonging. So, it’s vital that our city is not defined by just one aspect of its recent experiences, and compassion helps us to do that because it explores what motivates humans to care for one another.

The City of Ballarat formally signed the Charter for Compassion in October 2019 with an aspiration that Ballarat become ……a compassionate city where community connection, health and wellbeing is a high priority - a welcoming, inclusive, and active city – demonstrating our shared values.

Compassionate Ballarat is a volunteer group that draws on both the value and science of compassion to guide its work with the city in achieving these aspirations. Many studies, including those by Dr Julian Able in his work on compassionate communities in the UK, have found that communities who can create social safeness are healthier than those who do

not, and this in turn results in lower costs by way of reduced usage of its health services.

Ballarat already has many community support groups, including Neighbourhood Houses, Good Karma Network, Food is Free, Eureka Mums, Men’s Sheds, Styled for Success, Soup Bus, Compassionate Ballarat, Shower Bus, Walking Groups, Tool Libraries, Community gardens to name but a few, and these groups enable our residents to gather and flourish in

social safeness.

In The Way We Are, Hugh Mackay writes that it’s easy to wring our hands about the state of the nation, but not so easy to admit that it’s our own behaviour that helps to determine the shape our society is in.

Therefore, the challenge for us all is to reflect on how, our behaviour and that of the groups we belong to, are contributing to the Ballarat we want to create - so that indeed we can live in a caring and compassionate city with an overarching identity of one that meets the social safety needs of all its residents.

A New Report on the Science of Compassion

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 03:42:48 GMT

A new report on the science of compassion by Dr Lynne Reeder and her international research colleague Dr Marcela Matos on the Future Directions in Compassion Science has just been released: Some of the key points from this report include:

Research in compassion science is consistently finding that the motivation of compassion fosters improved mental and physical health, and has profound effects on social relationships in families, groups, communities and between communities.

Many scientific studies show that different motives organise our minds and bodies quite differently. For example, the way our attention is directed, our thoughts are focused, and our intended behaviours are enacted, differ significantly as to whether our motives are - competitive self-focused, anger or fear based - or cooperative and compassion based.

There are many practical applications of compassion, including for business and commerce – e.g. studies conducted by Assoc Prof Daniel Martin have found that compassion training can improve the psychological safety and well-being of employees and therefore mitigate the negative behaviours within businesses that can disrupt valuable innovations.

Prof Tania Singer, Director of the Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck Society, Germany highlights how compassion training works. Her world leading studies which include the use of fMRI’s in assessing differences before and after compassion training - show that it works by supporting the upregulation of our systems of care and affiliation…in compassion you accept the reality that is out there, but you activate the system which will allow you to be resilient against the potential negative effect of overwhelm and empathic distress.

Read the full report here

Read a 2 page summary of the report here

Target 1.5 degrees: What are the barriers?

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 09:28:23 GMT

with Ciara Bryne, Dr. Janet Salisbury and Dr. Lynne Reeder

In early February, researchers from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service presented data indicating that throughout 2023, temperatures surpassed the critical threshold of a 1.5-degree increase above pre-industrial levels. This threshold is significant as it is the limit global leaders committed to not exceed in order to prevent the most severe impacts of climate change. With this new evidence highlighting the failure to make sufficient progress in combating climate change, it becomes imperative to explore the obstacles hindering our advancement.

We must delve into the psychological, logistical, financial, economic, and political challenges that are impeding our ability to take significant strides toward safeguarding our future and the planet from the escalating climate crisis.

https://www.globalcompassioncoalition.org/events/target-1-5-degrees-what-are-the-barriers/

MLK Peace Event

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 07:38:10 GMT

21 January 2024 - Compassionate Ballarat partnered with Let’s Talk Peace Ballarat to contribute a webinar discussion as part of the Martin Luther King David 40 Days of Peace program which is an annual event organised by the global Charter for Compassion.

This event was entitled Turning ‘the dream' of Peace into Action, One Compassionate Step at a Time and featured speakers David Hartsough, Founder of World Beyond War; Tim Hollo, Executive Director of the Green Institute; and Gem Romuld, National Director, ICAN. David Hartsough has been working actively across the globe for nonviolent social change and peaceful resolution of conflicts since his personal encounter with Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and he shared his experiences on practicing nonviolence and in taking tangible and compassionate steps toward a peaceful world during.

You can listen to the inspiring presentations here:
40 Days of Peace - Turning ‘The Dream’ of Peace into Action One Compassionate Step at a Time ( youtube.com )

Compassionate Heroes Ballarat

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 23:02:03 GMT

At a time when we all have numerous stresses in our lives, it’s good for our mental health to recall that there are still many things to celebrate. Each year Compassionate Ballarat collects stories of compassion in action from our primary and secondary school students, and in 2023 its Compassion Heroes publication focused specifically on the collective work happening in schools.

These stories encompass the remarkable work of Ballarat’s current students on food insecurity, homelessness, youth mental health, multicultural homework, anti-bullying, supporting young girls in developing countries, the benefits of being in nature to young children and those in aged care, committing to peace, supporting those in financial need, caring cross-generational exchanges, supporting nursery schools in Malawi, mentoring programs, tree planting for Landcare, and more.

Take some time to be inspired by the compassionate work happening here in Ballarat.

The role of compassion in the climate crisis - Nurturing mindsets for a sustainable future

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 01:51:36 GMT

Join Christine Wamsler, Peter Senge, Gustav Böll, Lynne Reeder, Jeroen Janss, Jamie Bristow, Sister Jayanti on Nov 22 at 11pm (AEDT)

Join the Global Compassion Coalition for an enlightening online discussion on the role of compassion in the climate crisis. In this event, we will explore the pivotal role of compassion in addressing the global climate crisis. We'll delve into how fostering compassionate mindsets can be a catalyst for change, creating the conditions necessary to tackle climate change and pave the way for a sustainable future. Our esteemed panel of experts will provide insights into the power of compassion in environmental activism and climate action. This event is free to attend and open to all who are passionate about the intersection of compassion and climate change. Join us to be part of the solution and inspire meaningful change on the global stage. Together, we can make a difference!

https://www.globalcompassioncoalition.org/events/the-role-of-compassion-in-the-climate-crisis/#formHighlight

Compassion and Care Award

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 04:06:13 GMT

Compassionate Ballarat congratulates Keeley Johnson for being awarded the 2023 Compassion and Care Award for her work in helping children with autism and learning difficulties to get access to better educational resources. Through donations, sponsorship, merchandise sales and sausage sizzles, Keeley has been able to provide hundreds of iPads, pre-loaded with tailored education plans to children with autism or an intellectual disability.

Keely also won the Major Award 18-25 category - this is the second year in a row that the winner of the Compassion and Care Award also won the Major Award 18-25.

Keeley was first recognised by Compassionate Ballarat, with her inclusion in the 2022 Compassion Heroes Book (PDF).

Well done Keeley!

Compassion in Healthcare - Can it be Taught?

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 23:00:42 GMT

Most hospital and healthcare facilities list compassion as one of their core values. While compassion is important to patients and their families, we are very much at the early stages of understanding how to apply compassion in practical terms within hospital settings.

One of the issues related to compassion is that it is frequently misunderstood as relating to love, softness, tenderness and even weakness, Whereas, in reality compassion is a powerful and courageous human motivation. While compassion has been identified as a value in contemplative traditions for centuries – science is now defining compassion as a motivation, and as a motivation

compassion guides us to both – 1) Notice, turn towards (rather than away from) and pay attention to signals of distress and suffering in others, along with 2) a desire to alleviate and prevent that distress and suffering which involves learning how to do it

skilfully.

https://www.compassionatemind.co.uk/

These skills require learning how to do compassion well, and within the past 5-7 years training modules have been developed to support the motives of individuals to be compassionate, and to develop positive emotions that can be triggered towards

compassionate action. One of the world’s leading experts in compassion training is the social neuroscientist Dr Tania Singer who has found that compassion training works by engaging the ‘...active generation of positive affect and the underlying brain

network related to care and affiliation. (The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science, 2017, pg114).

Applying compassion in healthcare settings is important because recent studies are showing that it results in better staff wellbeing and commitment and improved care within workplaces. A recent Harvard medical school study of patient satisfaction revealed that clinical compassion accounted for 65% of the variation in patient satisfaction. And another study of 3000 patients suggested that if their physicians were brusque, patients did not feel fully empowered to understand cope with and manage their illness. (Michael West, 2021 Compassionate Leadership, pg50) And for the clinician’s psychology safety studies find an inverse relationship between

compassion and burnout – the more clinicians and carers are compassionate the less likely they are to experience burnout (Michael West, 2021 Compassionate Leadership, pg53).

One of the aims of Compassionate Ballart is to share the learnings on applying compassion science in various settings including in business, education, social justice and in healthcare.

Recently, we worked with Grampians Health on a compassion in healthcare training program. This award winning four-week self-paced online course was developed at Monash University and comprises three hours of content per week including a live

Q&A event with the course facilitators in the final week. Nine staff members undertook the training and three completed an evaluation that asked these questions:

 Was this training relevant to your work?
 What was the most useful information you obtained from the training?
 Have you been able to apply that compassion approach in your work?
 Would you recommend this training to your colleagues?
 Any other comments

We certainly acknowledge that a sample of three does not in any way provide scientific data, but as a program evaluation it does provide at least some indication that this program is worthwhile considering for healthcare providers across Ballarat.

Overall, each of the participants agreed that this course content was relevant to them, and they would all recommend it to their colleagues. In terms of usefulness, they found benefits from the evidenced based readings, discussions, and practical

approaches for staff to increase knowledge and skill around the use of compassion as a practical tool.

They were able to take away simple tips for providing compassion, and for applying “fleeting” moments of compassion when busy. In addition, they acquired a better understanding of the difference between compassion and empathy and what means

for staff burnout, and how to support the emotional wellbeing of staff in ensuring the workplace has caring team members that can thrive through adversity.

They also indicated they would take their learning and apply it more broadly, for example one participant has already added this content to the emotional intelligence presentation she gives to staff in the emergency department. This course was designed by Dr Debbie Ling, Professor Craig Hassed, and Dr Richard Chambers from Monash University to teach strategies to enhance compassion, avoid empathic distress, improve staff wellbeing and create more caring and compassionate workplaces.

In terms of transparency, it should be noted that Dr Debbie Ling is a member of the Australian Compassion Council, as is compassionate Ballarat’s Dr Lynne Reeder. There are two more courses being run in 2023 one starts on 21 August and the other

on 6 November 2023.

More information here:
https://shop.monash.edu/compassion-training-for-healthcare-workers.html

Behrouz Boochani's 'Freedom only freedom' Book

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Wed, 24 May 2023 01:43:21 GMT

Behrouz Boochani's new book 'Freedom only freedom' and insights from co-editor Omid Tofighian.

Read the Article from The Courier - Kurdish journalist and human rights activist Behrouz Boochani outside the abandoned Manus Island naval base where he had been locked up. Picture Getty Images

Heritage week provides us with a timely reminder that Ballarat has a long history of being populated by people from all around the world. By 1858 there were around 60,000 people in Ballarat and surrounds including those that had come from countries such as England, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland, and China.

Kurdish journalist and human rights activist Behrouz Boochani outside the abandoned Manus Island naval base where he had been locked up. Picture Getty Images

We know that these people came to seek their fortune and the freedom those earnings provide, and I was reminded of this history while listening to a very moving conversation between Omid Tofighian, translator of a newly released book Freedom Only Freedom, and the editor of The Courier, Eugene Duffy at the Eureka Centre*.

Their inspiring conversation covered topics such as - how language and terms such as 'illegal' transform how we interpret events; how the force of fear affects our ability to engage in our common humanity; how when journalism fails, the arts can succeed in reframing how we can humanise the 'other'; and how writing can be both an act of resistance and a pathway to freedom.

Omid and Eugene reminded us, that it is our stories, that can sway us when facts and rational data fail to reach our empathic hearts. The stories in Behrouz Boochani's latest edited book Freedom Only Freedom, and his previous book, No Friend But The Mountains, tell heart wrenching stories of his experience as a refugee, where our immigration system refused to speak his name, instead calling him MEG45.

Using 'political poetics' Boochani writes: We are resisting because we want freedom in a safe environment. The core concern is freedom...only freedom. The rest of what you hear are just peripheral issues.

History has shown that humans have the potential to be extraordinarily callous and cruel and that the cultivation of compassion can provide a powerful antidote to these dispositions. Compassion provides the strength, wisdom, and courage to address suffering, to resolve conflict, and to create nurturing connections across our diversity.

In addition to concern for our own residents, it's encouraging therefore that there are many initiatives in Ballarat that also reflect our concern for people in other countries. These include members of the Ballarat East Men's Shed who have made hundreds of handmade toys which will soon be sent to children in war torn Syria; Zonta Ballarat's birthing kits that are sent to help birthing assistants in developing countries; and this weekend also saw the official launch of the Ballarat Afghan Action Group, which provides food and aid to vulnerable Afghans, oppressed by the Taliban, particularly women and children.

Eugene Duffy began this event with a reminder that Heritage Week offers us the time to reflect on the soul of our city - and it finished with a statement by a young Afghan father who said that at last he feels at home, noting simply '...when they (people in Ballarat) smile at me then I feel free'.

*This event was organised by Ballarat Afghan Action Group , in partnership with Ballarat Libraries. Dr Lynne Reeder is a member of the Compassionate Ballarat Steering Group and her mother's family came to Ballarat in the 1850's after escaping the famine that was raging in Ireland at the time.

Dr Lynne Reeder, Adjunct Research Fellow

Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia

The Origins of Tenderness, Trust, and Morality An Evolutionary Perspective

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 01:31:26 GMT

In a world where conflict is more and more evident in our organisations, societies and between people - as sadly evidenced by the recent increase in physicals attacks on healthcare workers and school principals by patients and

parents - where can we look for more kind and compassionate ways of responding?

As an archaeologist, Prof Penny Spikins offers a unique perspective on our capacity to care about the wellbeing of others, whether they are close family or strangers. She contends that compassion lies at the heart of what makes us human. Simple acts of kindness left to us from millions of years ago provide evidence for how social emotions and morality evolved, and how our capacity to reach out beyond ourselves into the lives of others allowed us to work together for a common good and form the basis for human success.'

RESCHEDULING WEBINAR
The Origins of Tenderness, Trust, and Morality: An Evolutionary Perspective – 2 May 2023

Prof Penny Spikins was to take part in a webinar on Tuesday 2 May at 4.30pm, but unfortunately Penny is unable to present due to health reasons. She will reschedule at a time when she is fully recovered. We look forward to Penny speaking in the future, and in the meantime you might like to review a talk that Penny gave last year at Oxford University entitled How Who We Are Affects How We Rebuild, where she discusses compassion and evolution -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQgLjrJskPE (from 4mins in)

The Presenter

Penny Spikins is a Professor of the Archaeology of Human Origins, at York University, UK and has been fascinated by human origins after visiting Upper Palaeolithic cave art sites when she was eleven. Her first PhD was from Cambridge, and she has been a senior lecturer and a Professor at the University of York since 2012.

The Why of The Voice

l.reeder@federation.edu.au (Lynne Reeder) — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 04:29:09 GMT

Compelling Statements Inspired by Indigenous Mindsets.

The Voice to parliament was a key recommendation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart , a document written and endorsed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in 2017 to change the Constitution and improve representation of Indigenous Australians.

The Australian Compassion Council brings the work of the global Charter for Compassion to Australia, with its overall vision of Deep Dreaming Australia: A Continent for Compassion and a continent for compassion couldn’t be dreamed into being without the essential inclusion of Indigenous Australians.

We know that unless all Australians are supportive of the national referendum it will not succeed, and to make our contribution - the Charter for Compassion, Australia invited those in its networks to develop compelling statements on the ‘Why of the Voice’.

Using the five mindsets as articulated by Dr Tyson Yunkaporta in his book Sand Talk provided a respectful starting point for this project to engage with the Voice by honouring and valuing Indigenous forms of knowing.

The Charter for Compassion, Australia considers that the upcoming referendum may well provide a turning point for Australia as we reach across our common humanity to discover a history that provides us all with a deeper sense of wonder of that story.

In all, 24 statements have been captured in this book, including from: Prof Peter Yu, DVC First Nations, ANU; Prof Andrew Gunstone, DVC Reconciliation, Federation University Australia; Dr Ursula Stephens, CEO Catholic Services Australia; Shane Howard, AM – singer, songwriter; Margaret Hepworth - Director, Initiatives of Change; Hugh Mackay, AO - Author and social scientist; Petrina Barson, GP and Director, Centre for a Compassionate Society; among others

Members of the Australian Compassion Council respectfully acknowledge that there are some Aboriginal Australians who, for a range of reasons disagree with the Voice to Parliament.

The reason we support an Indigenous Voice is that we feel everyone has a right to be heard particularly when it comes to government policies that affect their quality of life.

Dr Andrew Gunstone, Director of the newly established Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice at Federation University Australia, states that decades of national and international evidence clearly demonstrate that Indigenous policies have a significantly higher chance of success when Indigenous peoples are genuinely engaged in the design and implementation of these policies.

The ACC supports a wider Australian discussion on this public policy issue because, if it’s done well, then the Voice will not only give Aboriginal Australians the opportunity to be heard - it will provide all Australians new opportunities to listen to the wisdom inherent in Indigenous knowledge.

It is hoped that the heartfelt statements in this book will support voters in coming to the Voice from their calm and creative selves – where they can see the possibilities of engaging with an Australian history that is 60,000 years old.

Challenging Nuclearism

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 03:35:21 GMT

A Humanitarian Approach to Reshape the Global Nuclear Order

On 22 January 2023 Let’s Talk Peace Ballarat and Compassionate Ballarat contributed to the global Charter for Compassion's 40 Days of Peace program with a discussion joined by Dr Marianne Hanson author of Challenging Nuclearism: A Humanitarian Approach to Reshape the Global Nuclear Order .

Listen to this important conversation to be reminded that there is much you can do to support global peace.

Ballarat Compassion Heroes 2022

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 03:39:39 GMT

The 2022 Compassion Heroes Book

The 2022 Compassion Heroes book has been released, and in releasing this book Compassionate Ballarat noted that - In our unsettled world we need compassion heroes to generate social change, and the stories in this book have been collected to inspire and encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to be wise and effective heroes by taking everyday actions that contribute to our local community. We are confident that the harms in our society can be countered and eventually overcome by the greater good in the collective hearts and the personal heroic resolve of all of us, in particular of our future leaders, as the participating students will surely become.

Dr James Kirby on his new Book.

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 03:47:57 GMT

Dr James Kirby in Conversation on his new book Choose Compassion: Why it matters and how it works

In his introduction, James made three key points:

Parenting Matters;
Compassion is Contagious;
You Can Train Compassion.

"Choose Compassion: Why it matters and how it works" is a thoughtful and practical guide to understanding and cultivating compassion. It offers valuable insights and tools for anyone seeking to live a more compassionate life and contribute to a more compassionate world.

You can listen to the recording of the discussion with Dr James Kirby on his book, via this link:-

https://business.sydney.edu.au/events/research/2022/bhmb/acc-scholars-event

James is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and Clinical Psychologist, a Visiting Fellowship at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, an Honorary Member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation UK, and is a member of the Australian Compassion Council Scholars Networks.

National Day of Compassion 2022

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Sun, 11 Sep 2022 01:12:08 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Compassionate Ballarat is a part of the Australian Charter for Compassion and e ach year on 21 September the Australian Compassion Council (ACC) organises a National Day of Compassion to offer all Australians the opportunity to join them in Deep Dreaming Australia A Continent for Compassion.

The theme for 2022 is Deep Listening and the ACC invites you to learn and practice Deep Listening through the seven events it has organised for this day.

ALIA partnership

Sun, 03 Jul 2022 04:54:10 GMT

Recently Compassionate Ballarat took part in the National Day of Compassion via two events that were linked to the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) partnership. These two events included Compassionate Ballarat members Sam Luxemburg running a session on Emapthy Training at the Peart Wing, and Lynne Reeder running a session on Deep Listening at Ballarat Hospice.

In addition, Lynne was asked to contribute an article for the September/October edition of ALIA’s Magazine INCITE Volume 43 on the theme Deep Listening and Trust. INCITE is distributed to ALIA’s 18,000 members and in her article Lynne explored the importance of Deep Listening in meeting our social need to be heard, respected and understood.

School Childrens Acts of Compassion - eBook

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:16:29 GMT

Compassionate Ballarat is delighted to be working with Chloe and Eliza, year 12 Religious Education Loreto students.

Together we have gathered stories of local school children who have initiated projects of extra ordinary kindness and compassion. The stories have been compiled into an eBook that is being distributed across Ballarat and globally though the Charter for Compassion.

National Day of Compassion 21 September 2021

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 01:20:33 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

September 21, 2021, marks the inaugural National Day of Compassion which has been organised by the
Australian Compassion Council.

Please join us in learning about the remarkable acts of compassion occurring across our continent. This National Day of Compassion will include a live event at 7am, with representatives from the Australian and Global Charter for Compassion.

EVENT REGISTRATION CLOSED

This will be followed by live streaming of over 60 video conversations with the ACC ambassadors, and leaders from cities across Australia applying compassion in the arts, healthcare, business, education, environment, peace, inter-spirituality, social justice and in research.

To join at any time throughout the day, go to Facebook or click here:
https://www.facebook.com/CharterforCompassion/

The contribution of Compassionate Ballarat to this national day includes:

Launching the Compassionate Heroes Ballarat eBook - stories from Ballarat students and their extraordinary acts of compassion. Read the book here:
Compassion Heroes Ballarat.pdf

Releasing a video recording of a peace poem written and
performed by Megan J Riedl: Watch here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CtkSIykP-pgDZmLEVAqV5esGJMMwZ6-T/view

Featuring Cr Belinda Coates, Ben Kelly, Dr Mary Hollick and Madonna Quixley who are all represented in the video stories being streamed throughout the day:
https://www.facebook.com/CharterforCompassion/

Playing a range of musical performances throughout the day.

The Concert for Compassion:
https://federation.edu.au/news/articles/the-concert-for-compassion

Tree by Tree:
https://vimeo.com/399368203

What a Wonderful World
What a Wonderful World, The Ballarat Arts Academy and The BallaRat Pack Orchestra - YouTube

Virtual Soul Choir Ray of Sunshine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l732pNI-Kko

Song of Celebration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlEka7idwas

Investigating a compassion research project on social and emotional learning in early childhood.
https://federation.edu.au/news/articles/the-global-social-and-emotional-learning-program-helping-young-children

Gifting a peace pole to Sebastopol Primary School by Let's Talk Peace Ballarat, as part of Rotary Australia’s Centennial project.
https://www.canberrarotarypeacebell.org/peace-polls/

In the lead up to both the National Day of Compassion and the International Day of Peace, last week Compassionate Ballarat and Let’s talk Peace Ballarat co-hosted a discussion with Dr Kerry Howells a global expert in gratitude on how gratitude can create and sustain peaceful societies.
Dr Kerry Howells - Untangling You

Peace Poetry Video

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 01:24:49 GMT

Through the work of Compassionate Ballarat and Lets Talk Peace Ballarat, Megan Riedl, local Ballarat poet and theatre-maker, has been commissioned to film a video of her three-part poem "Fallout" and she would love your help to make it happen.

The video will be filmed & edited by Sam McColl, and has been funded by a City of Ballarat Community Impact Grant. It will premiere on the International Day of Peace in September to local, national and global audiences online.

The video will showcase Ballarat as a place of activism (both historically and currently) and gather local Ballarat people and organisations who are working towards a more peaceful society and world.

In order to create this amazing celebration of peace, we are inviting individuals and volunteers from local organisations who are working in this space to be a part of the video.

Healing Communities Forum - July 24 2021

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 01:27:02 GMT

Compassionate Ballarat invites you to an international forum exploring how cities can heal after community-wide trauma. The speakers will include Frank Liddy from Compassionate Belfast, Laura Burgis, Director, Human Values Centre, USA, Professor Tim Chapman, Chair, EU Restorative Justice Group, and Prof Kath McPhillips, Newcastle Uni, NSW

Registrations now closed

Hugh Mackay in Conversation

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Tue, 18 May 2021 01:32:48 GMT

On 18 May 2021, social psychologist Hugh Mackay was in Ballarat to speak about the book he wrote during the lockdown of 2020 to demonstrate how crises often turn out to be the making of us.

Entitled The Kindness Revolution: How We can restore hope, rebuild trust and inspire optimism, this book calls us to dream of a more loving country – more inclusive, more compassionate, more creative, by living ‘as if’ Australia is already that country.

Hugh was in conversation with Assoc Prof Rick Chew, Director, Ballarat Arts Academy and Dr Lynne Reeder on Tuesday 18 May at 5.00pm in the Seminar Theatre, Ballarat Tech Park Central, 110 Lydiard St Sth.

This public event will featured an video adaptation of the song ‘What a Wonderful World’ performed by the Arts Academy students at the time of the same sex marriage debates. Our Arts Academy made this video ‘….to imagine the world through art, not as it is, but as it could be. A message of love and equality from the heart of Ballarat’.

What a Wonderful World, The Ballarat Arts Academy and The BallaRat Pack Orchestra - YouTube

Out of the Darkness Cafe Conversations 2021

compassionballarat@gmail.com (Compassion Ballarat) — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:28:58 GMT

Have you seen the Art Gallery’s 2021 exhibition, ‘Out of the Darkness’?

Compassionate Ballarat led, in a relaxed atmosphere at The George, a number of conversations to discuss what role the Arts can play in supporting individual and social trauma with questions such as:

What was your overall response to the exhibition?
How can creativity, wonder and awe lift us out of our day to day?
What role might art and creativity play in social healing?
How can contemporary art galleries and museums contribute to community wellbeing?