Dimitrios Papalexis shares the story of using circle as part of the Cooks River Changemakers Course to help address the complex environmental problems of the Cooks River.

Using the Circle Way to inspire Changemaking and Environmental Stewardship

Aboriginal people have been living along the Cooks River for more than a thousand generations, since time immemorial. However, with urbanisation and other issues over the years, the Cooks River is the most polluted river in Australia today.

The Invitation

In 2019, I was contracted by Cooks River Alliance to run a series of workshops for the Cooks River Changemakers Course, using the Asset Based Community Development approach. The Cooks River Alliance is a partnership between councils in the Cooks River catchment – Bayside Council, City of Canterbury Bankstown, Inner West Council and Strathfield Council. The Alliance uses the combined resources, experience, knowledge and skills within the councils and the community to address the complex environmental problems of the Cooks River.

Cooks River Changemakers Course

The Cooks River Changemakers Course invited passionate Cooks River people to participate in a free seven-week program exploring how to use their skills, knowledge and passions to work with others on Cooks River projects. The program is based on the belief that in a catchment of 550,000+ diverse people, everyone has something to contribute.

The Prototypes

Community members who are passionate about the river heard the calling and joined the course and took a deep dive where they formed strong relationships with each other and worked together for a shared purpose. They went on a field trip with Jennifer Newman, a lecturer of Aboriginal studies from The University of Sydney, heard from guest speakers, and participated in a series of workshops that included creative activities, Open Space Technology sessions, prototype sessions, storytelling and a Circle. Through this, changemakers discussed their ideas for the river and developed a series of projects, such as family picnics by the river, scavenger hunts, front yard blitzes, the mullets kayak clean ups and even full moon walks.

The Circle
During the final graduation event, I was asked to run a “skyting” session to capture the participants biggest dreams and visions for the river following the changemakers course. I decided to do this by hosting a circle to encourage participants to step into their leadership and connect to their highest vision in a grounded and interconnected way.

The circle’s calling question was: “What is your highest vision for the river and what are you willing to do?” I briefly introduced and explained the three practices to the participants asking them to speak with intention, listen with attention and rely on the whole. We used a shaker as a talking piece, and we formed a beautiful centre by placing kayak pedals and other beautiful objects.

During the circle people got very emotional as they spoke passionately about their love and vision for the river, and also how much they enjoyed the course. Here is quote by a participant that shows how powerful and grounding the circle was: “I usually like to look at things from the Gods, but down here on earth the view is pretty good too.”.

What emerged from the circle is stronger commitment to environmental stewardship, community solidarity and healing, a shared passion and interest to continue this work and the formation of a Cooks River Changemakers Network.

Lessons Learned

One of the lessons learned for me is to trust my intuition when it comes to choosing the right hosting practices and tools that will hold the energy of a group and serve a particular purpose.

 Another learning is around the universality and archetypal power of the circle, which practices and principles translate well to diverse audiences and help unearth brilliance. The following quote about wholeness by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea, The Circle Way describes this well: “Wholeness is an animation of circle process beyond methodology; it acknowledges the archetypal energy of circle lineage. Things happen that we do not expect, and we discover in ourselves the capacity to respond brilliantly”.

Below is a video that captured a bit of the magic that took place during the circle and the Cooks River Changemakers’ course.

Dimitrios Papalexis is a consultant, creative facilitator, space holder and storyteller. He is the founder of Soulgen, a social enterprise that collaborates with young people, diverse communities, organisations and councils for bottom-up social change and impact. Dimitrios has worked as a counsellor, trainer and facilitator in Australia, Greece and Brazil, is a published author, and he hosts his own podcast show: The PoWEr of CommUNITY. Learn more about his work here.