Compassionate Communities Australia National Forum
Event description
September 9, 2025 | The Edge, Queensland State Library, BRISBANE | 8.30am – 5:00pm
We will share, learn, collaborate, and advocate. By the end of the day, we will have developed an advocacy statement outlining the actions needed to strengthen and sustain Compassionate Communities in Australia—reorienting systems so they better support community-led approaches to caring, dying and grieving.
8.30am | Registrations
9.00am | Welcome to the Forum | Dr John Rosenberg (MC)
9.15am | The story of CCAus | Prof Samar Aoun AM & Sherl Westlund (Compassionate Communities Australia (CCAus))
9.30am | Presentations
Compassionate Communities: Traps and Pitfalls | Prof Allan Kellehear OBE (Northumbria University & Compassionate Communities UK)
Activated Citizens: The Treasures in Compassionate Communities | Prof Luc Deliens (Public Health Palliative Care International)
The Compassionate Communities Resource Hub | Dr Julieanne Hilbers (CCAus)
Q&A Facilitated session | Dr John Rosenberg
10.30am | Morning Tea
11.00am | Stories in Action
Residential Aged Care | Erin Fulton (Bupa Aged Care) | Service redesign – embedding a compassionate communities approach within residential aged care
Hospices | Cara Doherty & Sarah Williams Lovegrove (Hummingbird House) | Walking With, Not Ahead: Reimagining End-of-Life Care with Families and Communities
Health Services | Prof Samar Aoun AM (South West Compassionate Communities Network) | Transforming Health Service Culture from Within: Embedding Compassionate Communities
Local Government | Helene James (Townsville City Council) | Partnering for Change: Shaping Compassionate, Community-Led Responses with Local Government
Workplaces | Jessie Williams (Proveda) | Heart and Humanity at Work: Rebuilding Workplace Culture Through Connection and Compassion
Home | Dr Stephen Ginsborg (CCAus) & Anna Petinsky (Proveda) | Who’s got my back
Equity & Diversity | Harpreet Kalsi-Smith (CCAus) | Community cracking systems open
12.45pm Lunch with music by Jessie Newling
1.45pm | Presentation | Rethinking regulation and compliance in community-led initiatives | Prof Ben White (Queensland University of Technology)
2.00pm | Roundtable workshops | Focus on what is needed to support change in each setting to inform draft advocacy statements.
3.30pm | Afternoon Tea
3.45pm | Activity | From Life to Legacy: Honouring through Community Practice. Facilitated by Harpreet Kalsi-Smith (CCAus) & Bec Lyons (Australian Home Funeral Alliance)
4.15pm | Feedback from roundtable groups and presentation of advocacy statements
Prof Samar Aoun AM & Dr John Rosenberg
5.00pm Close
6.30pm Death over Dinner (In collaboration with Dying to Know, Proveda)
This forum has been made possible with the support of the Perron Institute
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity