Fellow Travelers on the Path of the Heart

Trying to establish 'Including Us' is really forcing me to think about why I'm really traveling down this road. How can I serve in a way that does justice to all my teachers, my family, my community and all my fellow travelers past and present who have helped me, and at times, carried me, along the way. Musing on this question after the recent National Child Protection and Youth Justice Forum, where the topic of personal 'whys' was raised, led me to recognise that, in essence, I’m passionate about including the voices of those that are seldom listened to in decision-making and problem solving to make real change. Without fully realising it, I’ve been on a participation and inclusion quest  for the past 37 years.  This quest has taken me to young homeless shelters, to alternative education settings, to employment services, to state government policy offices, to child protection, to academia, to people seeking asylum advocacy and to diversity and inclusion.  Along the way I wrestled with a doctorate specifically focused on how to listen in conversations with the cultural ‘other’ to produce inclusion rather than exclusion.  What I've taken away from this quest so far is that real participation by marginalised groups of people is inclusion.  That without real participation there is just empty symbols and ceremonies that somehow attempt to ignore the question of exclusion and power. That just whitewashes inclusion. But with real participation comes the magic in belonging, recognising, innovation and problem solving.  In this sense, real participation is both the road to, and the meaning of, inclusion.  I have also learnt that real participation is not just about setting up an advisory group.  It requires sophisticated organisational structures and accountability. And it requires a particularly disciplined interpersonal listening that turns out to be truly transformative.  Both at an organisational and personal level. This is my why and the fire that burns.  To those I have already met on this road I salute you. To those that I have not met, I look forward to our 'chance' encounters on the path of the heart to learn about your whys and your fires that burn. With respect, rod.