Trainer profiles

This page features members of our community development community who offer workshops and training.
Ann Ingamells

​REGION
Queensland,
​remote or face to face

Spotlighting community

Methods and practices
Community Development workshops at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
Board Basics – when community matters
A short course for community managed organisations. 
Developmental evaluation
Reflective and quantitative tracking for learning.
Participatory research 
Simple methods for local learning.
BIO
​At 75, I look back over an adulthood trying to come to terms with community (in all its forms) and associated practices of community development that enable us all to step into our power in our public and private lives. 
I have studied, taught, practiced and researched in these areas, inside and beyond universities, and am still learning.  Over recent years I have been working with community folk on an evaluation approach which is compatible with community development. This is often referred to as developmental evaluation, yet it also incorporates elements of measurement, outcomes and impact.
My practice and learning over the past 15 years has been enriched through walking the journey of change with First Nations people of remote desert communities.
I look forward to further discussions with individuals, groups and organisations, with a view to co-creating value in the work they do with their various communities. 
Ph: 0422 136 785
Dave Andrews

​REGION
Brisbane,
​South East Queensland

Compassionate community work

Introductory and advanced workshops
​1.  Intentional community
2.  Community development
3.  International community work

​4.   Building better communities
5.   Faith-based community work
6.   Inter-faith community work
Based on my books - Building a better world: Developing communities of hope in times of despair, Living community: An introductory course in community work and Down Under: In-depth community work
BIO
​​Dave, his wife Ange, and their family have lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalised groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, India and Nepal for more than 40 years. 
Dave, Ange and 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; and they are currently a part of the Waiters Union, an inner city community network working alongside Aboriginals, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia. 
Dave is a lecturer in community work at CHC and a trainer for the Community Praxis Co-op.
Ph: ​0401669245
Heather Ellis

​REGION
Queensland
BIO
Heather is a community leader, social worker and changemaker driven by her creativity, energy, and collaborative spirit. As the Founder and Director of BlueWren Connections, Heather strengthens communities, teams and individuals who want to develop their internal capacity and expand their influence. 
Heather’s passion for regional Australia stems from 30 years on the land as a primary producer. She has a long-term career in the social service sector in the fields of family and domestic violence, sexual assault, community development and child protection. 
Heather is effective in working in partnership with groups and communities to co-design and implement the pathway to achieving desired outcomes. Her skills include organisational capacity building, strategic planning program design, training, community development, group facilitation and research projects. 
Heather’s community development framework is grounded in CD QLD tradition, narrative practice, and art of hosting. In our workshop Community Leadership Building – we look at what practices bring about resilient communities, where people feel valued, are willing to contribute and able to collectively build their resilience, plan they want for their community.
Ph: ​0401669245
Peter Westoby

​REGION
Locally, nationally, internationally

Edgy community development 

Training includes:
  • The well-known Queensland developmental approach of participatory and dialogical community development (for professionals, or with neighbourhood residents)
  • Community economics, how to build local economies that are self-reliant – including how to set-up cooperatives and other alternative economic organisations
  • Peace and conflict within communities – navigating and negotiating difference and respectful conflicting
  • Learning and mobilising in community development – how to facilitate critical learning approaches within communities, eg Freire’s spiral model, Lederach’s elicitive model
  • Soul and community development, enabling processes of seeing, observation, perceiving, and being present in our practice
  • Participatory action research and community development – how knowledge is produced and owned by communities to further their dreaming and tackle their problems
BIO
Peter Westoby is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Social Science and Community Development at the School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology (QUT); a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Development Support, University of Free State, South Africa; and a Director with Community Praxis Co-op.
He consults, teaches and researches on community and social development practice, dialogue work and forced migration issues.
Peter has worked in youth, community and organisation development for 30 years, within South Africa, Uganda, Vanuatu, PNG, Nepal, the Philippines and Australia. He has published 14 books, and 50+ professional journal articles, his most well-known being monographs such as Dialogical Community Development (2013) (Routledge); Soul, Community and Social Change (2016) (Ashgate/Routledge), and The Sociality of Refugee Healing (2009) (Common Ground).
Peter loves bush walking, swimming, hanging out in independent book shops, drinking good quality coffee, and home-making.