(showing the Australian Foyer movement some love)
When you are a restless traveller, people and places recede in time only to welcome you home again.
I went back to Australia this October to join the Foyer
Foundation’s annual conference. It was a
chance to complete the ‘journey’ of their first accreditation cohort - a group
of pioneering Foyers, from Melbourne to Perth, successfully completing the
pilot of the FOR Youth accreditation framework. The trip felt heavy in the
heart from the death of Jane the week before, someone who worked tirelessly for
Australia to put Accreditation in its DNA.
What a legacy those first young people left, who asked the Federation
to develop an accreditation system in late 90s.
Before I got to the beautiful conference setting at Coogee
beach, I headed to Adelaide, to Cairns, to the suburbs of Sydney, offering my
expertise on asset-based approaches to practitioners in different training
workshops – from youth organisations to those working with dementia care and
domestic violence. Questions ranged from
how to embed asset-thinking across organisational practice, to how to sustain approaches
in compliance based settings, to how to distinguish between the ‘intent’ to be ‘advantaged
thinking’, and the actuality and outcomes achieved. I shared the ‘Assetspots’ framework, developed for
the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Youth Fund, offering people a powerful starting
point to engage discussion and develop deeper insights. That, and the best advice I learned over the
years: never stop building a dream team; and get yourselves a very good
bullshit detector.
The conference was excellent – a large diverse audience
including funders and commissioners with practitioners old and new. Presentations
ranged from looking at a new Foyer for young people from care backgrounds being funded through a social impact bond,
to impact and evaluation approaches, and the role of educational institutions. Throughout
the conference, the voice of young people was heard through a series of videos reflecting
on what they liked about their different Foyers, and a final live panel telling
powerful stories of transition, complete with a memorable rap performance. As so often with young people from Foyers,
you are reminded of their appreciation for opportunities, for the importance of accessible
support, and for the alternative family that communal living can offer.
My main contribution at the conference was a keynote address reflecting on the Australian accreditation journey, framed between a question I was
asked recently from a young person at Ravenhead Foyer – 'is it true kangeroos
can punch you in the face?' – along with a memory of the powerful ‘synergy’ that
Jane brought in her work. The opportunity, each day, and in each conference room, is for everyone to harness collective talents and
potential.
Looking at how Australian Foyers continue to grow a strong
deal for young people, I think there is a powerful synergy across the ocean the UK could
learn from too. Jane would have loved that.
If you would like to find out more about my work, drop me a line at hello@inspirechilli.com
