About us
Community Praxis is a worker’s co-operative that provides the collaborative infrastructure for members, friends and colleagues to earn an income by forming self-managed teams for project, consultancy and training work. We will consider any work for which we can bring together a team with appropriate skills and experience, in which there is an opportunity to contribute towards building more peaceful, just and sustainable communities.
As a result of our work all of us in Community Praxis Co-op hope to contribute to the reduction of exploitative competition; the expansion of productive collaboration; the celebration of the unique gifts of all people, especially those on the edge; and the equitable utilisation of our common resources.
The Co-op seeks to practice traditional co-operative principles, encouraging the development of acceptance and respect, spirituality and compassion, solidarity and participation, responsibility and competence in the individuals, neighbourhoods and organisations with whom we work.
Our current members are outlined below.
As a result of our work all of us in Community Praxis Co-op hope to contribute to the reduction of exploitative competition; the expansion of productive collaboration; the celebration of the unique gifts of all people, especially those on the edge; and the equitable utilisation of our common resources.
The Co-op seeks to practice traditional co-operative principles, encouraging the development of acceptance and respect, spirituality and compassion, solidarity and participation, responsibility and competence in the individuals, neighbourhoods and organisations with whom we work.
Our current members are outlined below.
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Dave Andrews
Dave, his wife Ange and their family, have lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalised groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal and for more than forty years. Dave and Ange together with their friends started Aashiana, Sahara, Sharan and Sahasee – four well-known community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts, and people with HIV/AIDS in India. They are currently a part of the Waiters Union, an inner city community network working alongside Aborigines, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia.
Dave is interested in intentional community, interfaith engagement and the dynamics of personal and social transformation. He is author of many books and articles, including 'Not Religion, But Love', 'Building A Better World', ‘Down Under – In-Depth Community Work’ and ‘Living Community’ Dave is an educator at large for TEAR Australia, an aid and development agency, and a trainer for the Praxis Community Co-operative. Neil Barringham
Neil Barringham enjoys juggling a range of roles and commitments. His work with young people and in mental health over the past twenty years has usually found him focussing on building networks of contact and communication and mobilising and supporting people in taking a more hands-on role with others. Neil encourages friends and colleagues to greater understanding of and congruence in the connections between their inner and outer worlds. He has a particular interest in facilitating spaces of safety and welcome and openness between people.
Neil is currently the Coordinator of 'A Place to Belong', a small agency which focuses on assisting people with mental health challenges to participate more fully in community life. Howard Buckley
Howard is currently Manager of Deception Bay Community Youth Programs
in a part time capacity. His work experiences include six years as a
Social Planner with the Caboolture Shire Council and twenty years of
work in the community sector with mainly neighbourhood centres &
youth services. Born in Qld he spent his childhood moving around
Australia as part of an Air force family. For the last 18 years he has
lived in Maleny with his partner and children.
Howard loves spending time with his family (including his crazy
dogs), bushwalking, camping and reminding people that AFL is the real
football. He is a passionate supporter of the Richmond Football Club and
is actively involved in the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre. He enjoys the
humour of Leunig & The Far Side and is a Monty Python tragic. He has
a particular interest in exploring ways to degunkify his world (see
Michael Leunig’s cartoon in ‘Goatperson’ for more details).
Gerard Dowling
Gerard was born in North Queensland, a descendent of Irish-English
folk who came looking for gold in the 1870's and ended up scratching for
tin and wrangling packhorses in the bush. Since 1987 he has lived in
the inner Brisbane suburb of West End, where he has shared a home with
Lyn, raised Ciaron and Jack, and (much to his surprise) fulfilled
Ciaron’s naïve childhood dream of growing a rainforest in the backyard
of a humble rented cottage on a little sixteen perch block.
He's done 20 years in various community development roles, including housing work with the Tenants’ Union, prisons work with the Catholics, and collaborative community planning consultancies with Community Praxis Co-op. He currently organises youth projects for Brisbane City Council, exploring creative ways to engage young people in youth space, urban design, multicultural community, sustainability, active travel, social enterprise, and e-citizenship - with a great crew of young and young-at-heart colleagues in an innovative local government context. Em James
Em lives and works on Brisbane's southside, where she is currently a community development worker at the newly-minted Annerley Community Hub. Having worked at emerging neighbourhood centres around Brisbane over the past few years, Em loves working with local people to get new projects off the ground, and is passionate about creating welcoming spaces where people can connect across difference. Adventures, acrobatics and a good idea are some of Em's favourite things.
Tina Lathouras
Tina lives in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and is currently a lecturer in the Social Work program at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She teaches courses in Community Development and Social Action; and Critical Social Policy Analysis. Tina has had a long-term career in the social service sector in the fields of disability services, community development in neighbourhood centres and sector development with peak bodies. Her recent PhD research explored the structural dimensions of community development practice. Currently, she is engaged in participatory action-research projects exploring community development practice that is making micro-macro connections and working towards structural change; and citizen-led social movements that are working for social justice and human rights.
Gillian O'BrienGillian O’Brien has worked as a Community Education and Training Worker at WWILD Sexual Violence Prevention Association Inc. since 2012. She works alongside people with intellectual disability to recover from crime, to re-engage with their community, and to educate others about what change they want to see happen. Gillian has a passion for engaging in community, and also lead the Vera Street Community Garden in Toowong for three years, before moving her home and energy to Brisbane’s North West, and the Teralba Park Stolen Generations Support Group (TPSGSG). The TPSGSG is an Indigenous led group who plan and implement events such as a National Sorry Day Ceremony for the North West, promoting understanding of the history of Australia’s Stolen Generations. Lynda Shevellar
Lynda Shevellar is influenced by 20 years of experience and study in community development, the disability sector, education, and psychology. Her work focuses upon personal agency, organisational culture, social structures, and the interplay of these dynamics in the rich space of community organisations. Lynda has worked in the public sector, and the community sector, and is currently located in tertiary education, as a lecturer in Community Development within the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland, Australia. In addition to her work in community with Community Praxis Co-op she also volunteers for a local mental health network, A Place to Belong. Lynda has published in community development, mental health, disability, education and social policy journals. Her less horrific poetry appears in Antipodes: A North American Journal of Australian Literature.
Peter Westoby
Peter Westoby originally hails from the UK but now loves living in Yeronga, Brisbane, Australia. He is currently a senior lecturer in Community Development within the School of Social Work and Human Services at The University of Queensland, Australia and a Research Fellow with the Centre for Development Support, University of Free State, South Africa. He is also a Director/consultant with the non-profit Community Praxis Co-op. Peter’s experience includes over 20 years of development practice work in South Africa, PNG, the Philippines, Vanuatu and Australia. He is also the author of several books including Theorising the practice of community development – a South African perspective (2014), The Sociality of Refugee Healing (2009). And with Gerard Dowling, Theory and Practice of Dialogical Community Development: International Perspectives (2013). In his spare time Peter also loves drinking good coffee, hanging out in his local bookshop Avid Reader, travelling to remote parts of the planet and bush walking.
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