Connecting across Continents - Insights from Australian Fellows - The Churchill Fellowship
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Connecting across Continents - Insights from Australian Fellows

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Rosie Richards

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I was honoured to attend the 60th Anniversary Convention for Fellows of the Winston Churchill Trust in Melbourne. The Australian Trust, alongside one in New Zealand, was founded at the same time as the Churchill Fellowship in the UK.

Rosie Richards and Jeremy Soames attending the Australian Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Convention for Fellows Download 'Rosie and JS'

The convention was an inspiring celebration of innovation that reminded me of the incredible breadth of work happening across Australia and beyond. From the conference opener, a talk on moral alchemy by Dr Susan Carland (VIC 2019) recognising Winston Churchill’s complex legacy, to the final keynote speech by Churchill’s grandson, Jeremy Soames, the weekend set the tone that difficult topics would not be left unaddressed. Such topics ranged from AI in schools and clown doctors in aged care, to women in trades and homicide prevention and I left energised and brimming with new ideas and reflections on my own work.

A session from Chris Bush (VIC 2024), teacher and AI-in-education expert, explored how AI is reshaping learning and urged educators to “steer the tide responsibly.” This echoed a conversation I’d had with Courtney King (Sexuality and Relationships Educator at Rubix Support) in Victoria, about the future of disability-inclusive sex education. She suggested AI and VR could offer safe, adaptive environments for people with intellectual disabilities (PWID) to practise communication and intimacy, offering quasi-exposure therapy for social anxiety. Bush’s AI tutor 'Mitch' made me imagine a sex-ed equivalent 'Talkie' which could offer a non-judgemental space for PWID to practise consent language or critically reflect on pornography.

I was reminded of Ben, a man with Down syndrome who spoke at the Spark conference I attended in Adelaide as part of my Fellowship travels, whose confidence and communication skills flourished after using an app to practise social exchanges. At a co-design session with Thorne Harbour Health, Inclusion Melbourne, and Rainbow Rights we discussed similar ideas in the context of online 'hookup' culture.

Matthew Parsons from the Accessible Pride Project at Thorne Harbour Health emphasised that PWID have the same right to connection as anyone else - and that instead of teaching fear around online dating, we should focus on supporting people to navigate dating apps safely and confidently.

This commitment to promoting dignity of risk was echoed by another speaker, Bernie Shakeshaft (VIC 2014) founder of BackTrack, who spoke passionately about not only keeping vulnerable young people “alive, out of jail” but also “chasing their hopes and dreams.” Another shared theme was Bernie’s peer-education model; he shared a story of how when a community was struggling with youth crime it was the young people he had mentored who ultimately found and implemented the solution.

"The conference for Australian Churchill Fellows reaffirmed the power of cross-disciplinary dialogue - and the courage it takes to stay brave in thought and thoughtful in insight."

I observed this model during my research at Gippsland Centre Against Sexual Abuse in their EmpowerEd programme where educators with lived experience support peers to learn at their own pace and on their own terms. As peer educator Ellie put it: "it’s the first job where she’s felt valued because of my disability, not in spite of it".

A session exploring ‘yarning’, a culturally safe method of Indigenous conversation, with Gina Milgate (VIC 2023) and Lauren French (VIC 2023), offered profound lessons in leadership and listening. Gina reflected that leadership is often seen as Western, yet Aboriginal people have long practised it through deep listening and community care. Western cultures should learn from this seeing as "there are lots of cups of tea in the public service, but they’re not being used to foster connection".

Lauren’s research on sexual and gender-based violence in schools echoed a conversation I had with Sarah from occupational therapy organisation Thrive Rehab, who shared how "consent work can be destabilising as it shows people they could have had choice all along". Gina’s work points to collaboration at the centre of leadership, which is mirrored in the disability sector’s emphasis on codesign.

Finally, David Symons (VIC 2012), Artistic Director of The Humour Foundation, reminded us through Send in the Clowns that serious care and fun are not opposites; something I have explored in my work. Creativity and laughter can restore dignity and autonomy and sex should be viewed holistically not solely through the lens of 'harmful sexual behaviours' and often Arts-based approaches such as photo-diaries and body-mapping offer more holistic, person-centred paths to this understanding and expression.

Leaving Melbourne for the next stage of my travels in Gippsland, I felt grateful and recharged. The conference for Australian Churchill Fellows reaffirmed the power of cross-disciplinary dialogue - and the courage it takes to stay brave in thought and thoughtful in insight.

For an Easy English version of this blog visit Rosie’s blog

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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