Steps towards healing: A community event for survivors and allies

Name: Steps towards healing: A community event for survivors and allies
Start: 2025-12-14T10:30:00+1100
End: 2025-12-14T13:00:00+1100
Location: Royal Park (cnr Gatehouse Street and Flemington Road)

Sun, 14 Dec 2025, 10:30am - 1pm AEDT

Royal Park (cnr Gatehouse Street and Flemington Road)

North Melbourne VIC, Australia

Left Write Hook

143 followers · Contact host

Description

A free, inclusive and accessible community walk at Royal Park. Open to victim-survivors, allies and supporters of all genders, bodies and abilities. Limited tickets available.

Whether you’ve taken part in a Left Write Hook program, supported from afar, or are simply curious to learn more, you’re invited to join us for a gentle walk alongside our team, trainers and board members as we celebrate community, courage and connection.

Dogs on leads are welcome. Please be mindful that not everyone is comfortable around dogs and give others space if needed.

This event is free to attend. There will be opportunities to donate or purchase limited edition merchandise on the day. All proceeds from donation or purchases go directly towards supporting our work.

Meeting point
Enter Royal Park via the entry at the corner of Gatehouse Street and Flemington Road (near the Nature Play Playground). Look for Left Write Hook volunteers in bright yellow t-shirts.

Schedule

10.30 am: Arrive and check in
11.00 am: Start walk. We will be following a paved, accessible 5 km route. The walk will take 30 minutes - 1 hour depending on your pace. We may split into multiple groups with staggered start times depending on numbers.
12.00 pm: Arrive back at meeting point for conversation and connection
1.00 pm: Event ends.

Accessibility
Low-impact route with accessible toilets, flat paths and benches nearby. Suitable for those using wheelchairs or other mobility aids.

Getting there

By train: Royal Park Station (Upfield Line), about a 3-5 minute walk from Flemington Oval
By tram: Route 58 (West Coburg - Toorak), Stop 16 (Royal Park Station/Elliott Avenue or Royal Children’s Hospital stop
By car: Street parking is available along Gatehouse Street, allow extra time to park as this can fill quickly. If you're using maps for directions, search for 'Royal Park Nature Play Playground' as this will take you close to our meeting point.

Bathrooms
Accessible toilets opposite Gatehouse Street and Story Street, near the Royal Park Nature Play Playground (also known as the Royal Nature Garden).

Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity

Hostinformation

Left Write Hook

143 followers

Contact host

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Left Write Hook is a research informed 8-week boxing and writing workshop for adult survivors of child sexual abuse and trauma. The program is designed to empower survivors to take back their power through the physical and creative expressive processes of boxing and writing.

The program was founded by Donna Lyon, PhD, in 2019 at her local boxing gym, FitLife, in Ferntree Gully, Melbourne, Victoria, borne out of her lived experience as a survivor and a fighter.

In 2020, Lyon took the program to the University of Melbourne, whereby she teamed up with a group of interdisciplinary researchers to measure the efficacy of the program. The results demonstrated that the Left Write Hook reduced symptoms of PTSD, depression, stress, and anxiety, while increasing personal agency, resilience, and a sense of belonging. This research brought together a psychologist, gender expert, filmmaker & survivor, with the intention of studying the effects of the program, making a documentary film and producing a book.

Due to COVID, the face-to-face workshops that began in the gym shifted online. Across 2020, Lyon facilitated three workshops, organised by eight-week rounds. She pitched the idea of co-curating a book of the writings generated from the workshops to the group of participants and in 2021, Loving Healing Press, USA came on board as the publisher. Read more about the book.

Donna Lyon and filmmaker/researcher Shannon Owen then turned their attention to the documentary, which has become a model for participatory filmmaking collaboration between the filmmaking team and the project participant/collaborators. The film attracted development funding from VicScreen and secured a production company partnership with Sweetshop & Green to help develop and take the film to market. Through this collaboration, the team received production funding from Screen Australia, VicScreen, University of Melbourne, Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund, and distribution from Bonsai Films. Find out more about the documentary.

In 2022, Donna Lyon set up Left Write Hook as a not-for-profit company so that she could begin to run more workshops for survivors.

This event has passed

Sun, 14 Dec 2025, 10:30am - 1pm AEDT

Royal Park (cnr Gatehouse Street and Flemington Road)

North Melbourne VIC, Australia

Hosted by Left Write Hook

Steps towards healing: A community event for survivors and allies

Description

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