G’day,
To be honest, I was tired and pretty finished with the day. It was two Tuesdays ago in my office in Surry Hills.
I say office, but really our HQ here at Australians for Mental Health is more like a glorified storeroom: 22sqm crammed with five desks piled with papers and flyers and posters, a whiteboard with the scrawl of ad hoc planning sessions conducted from a bright orange sofa.
My tired crankiness wasn’t improved when, at about 3pm, I remembered that tonight was the night for our monthly member meetup online, and that I’d need to put on my best, cheerful face for the meeting.
So when at about 4:30pm – 30 minutes before the meeting – I discovered that our guest speaker needed to take some unexpected leave, I was ready to call it off!
But I persisted: the previous month I had to call it off because I was struck down with the flu, and I didn’t want to let everyone down twice.
And it was the best meeting I'd had in ages.
As we went around the virtual room, listening to what drove folks to join Australians for Mental Health I remembered something vital: social change starts with the stories of people.
That’s where connection starts too. By letting each other into our lives just a little, seeing ourselves in each other, and most importantly, to finding common concerns, we are able to commit to taking action together.
From that meeting, the idea of forming a working group was born. We ran out of time that night and agreed to meet again the following Tuesday. And we met again last night.
In the coming weeks the Member Working Group will be launching a massive program of listening. Understanding from Australians for Mental Health members what their priorities are and inviting them to be part of the action to make real and tangible change, community by community and across the country.
The community organising process we follow at Australians for Mental Health is used all over the world when citizens take charge and demand change.
Listening & Connecting
By listening to each other’s stories and understanding each other we can build connection and find the things we want in common. This is the foundation of everything we do. It can’t be top down – community organising is all about everyday people standing up for the things that would truly make a tangible difference in our lives.
Research & Strategy
We know our facts. We understand how things work and why change hasn’t happened so far. We are realistic as well as idealistic. That’s often described as starting in “the world as it is” but imagining “the world as it should be”.
Building Power & Taking Action
We recognise that in a democracy decision-makers need to grapple with a lot of competing issues and interests. We achieve change by involving a lot of people in putting pressure on politicians and others to act. We are always respectful and we are fiercely non-partisan, but we don’t accept excuses or weasel words: we keep fighting until we win!
The Member Working Group has come up with a strategy for using this process across Australia as a whole but also community by community. The work will be hard and sometimes we’ll be tired and cranky.
But everything worth doing sometimes is.
Thanks for being part of it.
Best,
Chris
Chris Gambian
Executive Director
ps: if you're interested in joining the Member Working Group please shoot me an e-mail!
pps: Not yet a member? Join us here -- its free for the first 30 days, then just $4 a month. Cancel anytime.