Healthy Tasmania Community Forum - Sharing, Learning Growing

Join us to celebrate communities and explore how we can continue creating real, lasting change together. We’ll hear from inspiring speakers, connect with communities leading this work on the ground, and dive into interactive sessions exploring the role we can all play in shaping a healthier future.

You’ll leave feeling inspired, equipped with new skills, and with a clearer understanding of the future of preventive health. We’ll also share updates on progress made toward a long-term plan to improve health and wellbeing in Tasmania.

Program

8:30 – Registration opens

9:30 – Welcome

MC: Jane Longhurst will guide us through the day, helping connect the big ideas and community voices around systems change.

9:35 – Welcome to Country

9:45 – Opening Reflections
Setting the scene: celebrating what Healthy Tasmania has achieved, the role of communities in shaping health and wellbeing, and what we’ve learned so far.

Keynote Presentations

10:00 – Therese Riley: From Ideas to Impact
How systems change can be achieved when communities are at the centre – from pilots to real impact.

10:30 – Mark Cabaj: Enabling Place-Based Systems Change
Exploring practical ways to strengthen local leadership and community-led systems change.

11:00 – Panel Discussion with Keynote Speakers
A chance to ask questions, share insights, and dig deeper into what makes systems change possible.

11:15 – Morning Tea

Community Voices

11:30 – Community Showcase Panel Discussion
Hear directly from community leaders and organisations supported through Healthy Tasmania grants. They’ll share stories of change, lessons learned, and how they’ve influenced systems in their local areas.

12:45 – Lunch

Workshops

1:30 – Workshops (choose one)

Changing Systems Through Connection – Mara Schneider, Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania
Systems in Practice – Dr Therese Riley, Therese Riley Consulting
Exploring Design in Community Innovation – Kok Kiong Ong, Dr Vanessa Ward, Associate Professor Ceridwen Owen, University of Tasmania

Hands-on sessions designed to share experiences, spark new ideas, and explore practical tools for systems change.

2:30 – Reflections and Connections
Reflecting on Healthy Tasmania’s achievements and looking forward to how communities can shape the next phase of preventive health.

3:15 – Wrap Up

3:30 – Close

Healthy Tasmania Community Forum: Sharing, Learning, Growing

MC and Keynote Speakers

MC - Jane Longhurst is an award-winning actor, former broadcaster with ABC Radio, voice over artist and popular presenter of events big and small. She has worked extensively as an actor in theatre, television and radio including guest roles on The Survivors, Bay of Fires, Deadloch, Rosehaven, Death or Liberty, Blue Heelers, Janus, A Country Practice and The Flying Doctors.

As Master of Ceremonies, Jane has worked with the following organisations: Cricket Tasmania, the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, Real Estate Association of Australia, CSIRO, Skills Tasmania Training Awards, Diemen Awards, WorkSafe Tasmania Conferences, Palliative Care Tasmania and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Jane has also been the MC for various charities and not-for-profit organisations such as the Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser lunch, the Women in Media Tasmanian Launch, Go Red for Women Heart Foundation Launch and Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation fundraising events.

Mark Cabaj is President of the consulting company From Here to There and an Associate of the Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement. He has more than 25 years’ experience working with communities, governments and organisations around the world on complex issues such as poverty reduction, neighbourhood renewal, education, health and community safety.

Mark’s career began in Eastern Europe during a period of historic change, where he worked with international agencies on economic development following the fall of communism. Since then, he has led award-winning initiatives in Canada, including Opportunities 2000, and served as Vice President of the Tamarack Institute and Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Canada.

Today, Mark focuses on practical ways to plan, understand and evaluate systems change, including the use of developmental evaluation – an approach that supports real-time learning and adaptation in complex environments. He is recognised internationally for helping communities and organisations translate big ideas into strategies that create lasting impact.

Dr Therese Riley has a national and international track record in research and evaluation of complex community interventions. She has been at the forefront of advances in the application of complexity and systems thinking to our understanding of intervention design and implementation. She has worked in many communities across Australia and is deeply committed to working with practitioners and policy makers at the frontline of prevention efforts.

Resources

	This report describes activities and achievements for the first two years of the Healthy Tasmania Plan, from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023. It complements the Healthy Tasmania Five-Year Strategic Plan Research and Evaluation Report 1: Baseline 2022 (Baseline Report), which describes long-term population health indicators and data from a variety of sources to give an overview of the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians and changes over time.
	This report describes the activities and achievements for the third year of the Healthy Tasmania Plan, from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. It shares stories about how communities are partnering with Healthy Tasmania to act on health and wellbeing.
	The Baseline Report outlines long term population level indicators. Seeks to provide an overview of health and wellbeing and capture changes over time. Outlines the planned approach of the evaluation and includes the Tasmanian policy and key stakeholder context.
	The Interim Report highlights the positive impact Healthy Tasmania is having on building community capacity for preventive health, identifies some areas that could be strengthened and outlines the focus of future evaluation activities.
	This Insight Report explains what social connection is, the state of social connection in Tasmania, how we can strengthen social connection and how the Healthy Tasmania Five-Year Strategic Plan 2022-2026 aims to build social connection.

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