A few weeks back I received a phone call from Scott Dowling, the local Akoonah Ward Councillor for the City of Casey. Scott had a friend of his coming down from Queensland, Nina Stanyer, who was presenting to the Casey Council and also to a number of other organisations in Melbourne and he was wondering if we would be interested in having Nina present at our meeting.
Nina is an author, speaker and mentor whose work centres around Domestic Violence awareness. With DV being one of the focuses of our District Governor Emma Clark this year, we were able to swap a few things around to accommodate Nina’s visit.
What a powerful message Nina had for us, as we heard Nina’s story of living, escaping and surviving domestic violence. Rather than a presentation, Nina ran a short workshop for us, where many of us took on a role, so that we all had a better idea as to how overwhelming some people’s lives are. Nina used an ordinary supermarket decision where we got to experience coercive control from the inside. It was a very thought provoking experience for all of us.
The evening was made even more special for Nina, as her adult son Ben, who lives here in Melbourne, was able to join our group and learn more about the work his mother is doing to support people and families who have experiences similar things to what both of them did in their lives. Having Scott visit us was also an extra bonus, as he was able to fill us in with a few things he is up to as a member of the Casey Council and then he pulled out his guitar and performed a song for us, which many of us sang along to, called ‘Cats in the Cradle’.
Many members purchased a copy of Nina’s book, ‘Tide in, Tide Out’, and also took away information about the workshops Nina runs in QLD - titled ‘From Awareness to Choice’ and ‘When Choice Stops Feeling Safe – Understanding coercive control from the inside’. Nina is hoping in the future that some of these workshops might be taken up by organisations here in Melbourne.
Out and about this week, members have been busy delivering and collecting Art Screens and also reinstating the water feature, complete with water lilies and even 8 little goldfish, in the Chapel Garden at St John of God Hospital Berwick.
Remember, if you are planning on coming to our winery lunch on Sunday 25th October, you do need to let me know no later than Wednesday this week, so that our hosts know how many people they are catering for.
This week, we have Past Presidents’ Isobel and Mark Caulfield sharing with us what happens when you work in BlazeAid camps. We all remember the devastation of the Black Summer fires of 2019-20 and the equally devastating floods in 2021. It did not take long for Mark and Isobel to hitch up their van and head to four of the many BlazeAid camps around our country to lend a hand. Talk about ‘Service above Self!’
As we have recently gifted the refurbishment costs to BlazeAid for one of ‘our’ Combat trailers, the timing is perfect for Mark and Isobel to re-share the experience they had working at the fire affected camps at Wulgulmerang (Gippsland high country) and Adelong (Snowy Mountains NSW) and the flood affected properties at Coolah (Central NSW) and Woolgoolga (SE QLD).
I am hoping we might even have a photo of our refurbished combat trailer to share with you all at the meeting.
Looking forward to seeing you all this week. 
