Page 14 - ReAwaken Ebook 1st Ed

The story of ReAwaken Australia

The story of ReAwaken really begins with the film ‘Healing Voices’, produced by Digital
Eyes Film. HUMANE Clinic Co-Directors Matt and Stephanie watched the film and
subsequently ran a successful film screening of ‘Healing Voices’. From there, skype

conversations with PJ (Digital Eyes Film), Oryx (Chief Operating Officer, National
Empowerment Center), Matt and Stephanie gave birth to the idea of creating a mental

health conference. HUMANE Clinic is committed to changing the conversation and
REAWAKEN could demonstrate the power of connection, compassion and meaningful
action to this change

With Matt, Stephanie, PJ and Oryx, the organising leaders began. Many plans evolved

and PJ, along with his colleague (and cousin) Ben Caron, filmed daily at ReAwaken, as well
as conducting interviews with attendees and speakers in preparation for a documentary
about the event.

The vision of ReAwaken is that mental health, trauma and addiction experiences do not
occur in isolation. ReAwaken as a movement explores the knowledge base and

experiential journey of social connection, compassion and meaningful action. These three
themes underpin the spirit and value of the workshops and all other aspects of Reawaken

Australia.

ReAwaken Australia was the first event in a series of international events around these
themes. The event was hosted by HUMANE Clinic in collaboration with the National
Empowerment Centre (USA) and Digital Eyes Film. ReAwaken Australia offered spaces for

learning and hearing from presenters, as well as a collective space for hearing from each
other as a community. All presentations offered a reflective space within their workshops
and twice daily community forums were held to bring together ideas from the conference

community. ReAwaken is founded on the belief that change occurs within communities of
support and mutual influence. A central aim of ReAwaken Australia was for the

conference community to move together towards meaningful and tangible outcomes
that each of us could take home to our own communities. This is reflected in the
ReAwaken Manifesto. The conference also aimed to empower people to stay connected

within the communities they created at the conference, to continue to build momentum
for change and social support.

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