Community Praxis Co-op

Community Praxis Co-op draws on its members and networks of colleagues to put together multi-disciplinary teams of experienced practitioners appropriate for particular projects.

The Directors of Community Praxis Co-op are have significant experience in various fields.

Dave Andrews, his wife Ange, and their adult children, share a joint household. They have lived in intentional community, and worked in community development with disadvantaged groups in Asia and Australia for the last thirty years.

In India, Dave helped start a therapeutic community called 'Dilaram', a community rehabilitation centre called 'Sahara', and a community reconstruction service called 'Sharan'. Upon his return to Australia, he helped start a community network called the 'Waiters Union', in which he still plays an active part.

Dave works as a community worker in West End, his own local area; and, at the same time, works for Tear Australia, an inter-national aid and development agency.

Dave teaches courses on community development and consults with community groups and organisations all over the world. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Building A Better World.

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.

Gerard Dowling is a quiet family boy who has never been outside the country, and has lived and worked in West End - practicing community development in his own backyard since just before Expo 88.

In an eclectic professional career Gerard has worked for the Tenants' Union of Queensland, Department of Family Services (in a regional resourcing role), Catholic Social Response (in prisons, housing and community development roles), and Queensland University of Technology (in fieldwork practice and ethics research roles).

Gerard has an ecological worldview - in which context, connectedness, interdependence and the acknowledgment of chaos is crucial.

He is currently a project manager and process facilitator with Community Praxis Co-op, working on diverse projects throughout South-East Queensland.

Ken Morris was born in country Queensland but has lived in Brisbane since arriving there aged eighteen to study at university.

Ken has almost thirty years of experience in work with children, young people and families. He began his community work career at the Wooloowin Community Centre in 1992 and completed post-graduate studies in community development in 1999.

When asked about his view of the world he whined pathetically: "Gerard Dowling stole my world view...!"

Ken currently juggles his role as Director of Jabiru Community Youth and Children's Services (a community agency in the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane), with occasional consultancy work.

Peter Westoby's youth development practice was shaped by four years work in South Africa between 1994 and 1998.

That exposure to cutting edge and global youth work practice confirmed Peter's commitment to community capacity building, developmental youth work as a way of building the resilience of young people, and soulful approaches to community development.

He is currently part-time Community Connections Team Leader at the Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma (QPASTT) - facilitating youth and community development work with refugees, and also lectures in youth work practice at Griffith University.

When he is not working he loves playing soccer with the West End Partisans Soccer Club, buying books in Avid Reader (a local book shop) and visiting enchanted places around the world.

Howard Buckley is the latest member to join the Praxis board. Over the past 14 years Howard has held a variety of community and youth development roles with community organisations throughout south east Queensland including Goodna, Hervey Bay and Noosa. He has a strong commitment to his local community and does voluntary work in Maleny with the local neighbourhood centre and the Maleny Community Forum.

Between 1996 and 2002 he was employed by Caboolture Shire Council as a Social Planner. This role enabled Howard to engage first hand with the struggles of working in a bureaucratic structure that was never designed to respond to the social needs of the community. Howard worked alongside the community to create new ways of opening the doors of Council to respond to its ever-changing community.

He currently holds a part-time position with Community Praxis providing community leadership training in Caboolture shire. His new role enables him to enjoy more time with his family, friends, garden and pet dog.
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Helen Beazley has over 10 years experience in government policy and administration, a large part of that time involved in developing national policy for vocational education and training. Helen's strengths are in research and analysis, strategic planning, policy development and report writing. Recently, she has been captured by the ethos of community development and is studying in the field while parenting, maintaining voluntary commitments and working for the Co-op.

Helen's professional mission is to use her knowledge and skills to improve the effectiveness of organisations committed to building inclusive, equitable and just communities. Particular areas of interest include: community sector-appropriate evaluation; social capital formation and measurement; and social entrepreneurship.

Helen lives with her husband and daughter in West End. Along with a network of other like-minded people they are learning what it means to be good neighbours to people in their locality who find it difficult to find acceptance from middle Australia.
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