Hi everyone,

Thanks to those who came to our AGM last Monday. It’s been a great year and we loved celebrating it with our ACC community - lovely to have a mix of committee and volunteers along for dinner etc. I am in Timor-Leste this week with Friends of Baucau, but India will be here Monday, Tahlia on Tuesday, Clare on Wednesday … and the rest of the week will be pretty normal …

Come along to our Op-Shop tour this Thursday from 10am-2pm! Lee and Tahlia will be heading up to High Street in Northcote for a bit of bargain hunting. Bookings can be made online here.

School holidays are coming up … but we have some free events before then - namely, our morning tea and conversation with Leigh Mankey from Dementia Australia, and John Byrne’s Shadow Work program. See the posts below for details. And then we have our two week break before term 4 and we are so glad to see people already booked into some of our term-based programs such as CRUNCH and Cook By The Book.

See you next week!

Cheers, Leanne

John who has been running our men’s shed, men’s breakfasts and breathwork classes here is helping to run a shadow work program on Saturday 19 September. Below is the information for anyone who is interested. Please get in touch with John or Diarmaid for more info.

Alphington Community Centre

Saturday 19th September

10.00am – 13.00

  Free Event

You're invited to join us to explore something I believe has the potential to change the way we see ourselves — and, in doing so, help us live more fulfilling and happier lives.

Shadow Work

We all have parts of ourselves that we know well — and other parts that we may prefer not to see.

• The People-Pleaser.

• The Responsible One.

• The Inner Critic.

• The one who needs to be in control.

• The part that feels unseen, unheard, unloved or not good enough.

These hidden or disowned parts of ourselves are often referred to as our Shadow.

Shadow Work offers us a way of becoming curious about these parts rather than judging or trying to change them. 

It invites us to discover what lies beneath our reactions, patterns, conflicts and behaviours — and to become more fully ourselves.

During this introductory session we will explore:

• The Four Healing Processes used in Shadow Work

  • How we can work with our Shadow to help us live happier and more fulfilling lives.

• The Four Archetypes

  • Sovereign, Warrior, Lover and Magician — four fundamental aspects of ourselves that influence how we relate to ourselves, others and the world.

• The Four Core Wounds

  • The wounds that can shape how we see ourselves, and the world around us.

• The Four Key Emotions

  • The emotions that can point us towards our Shadow.

  • This isn't about fixing what is "wrong" with us.

  • It is about becoming curious about all of who we are — including the parts of ourselves we may have learned to hide, suppress or deny.

You don't need any previous experience with Shadow Work. Just bring an open mind and a willingness to look at yourself from a slightly different perspective.

If something in this invitation has sparked your curiosity, I'd love you to join me.

Simply drop me an email and I'll reserve a place for you.

Come with your curiosity. You may leave with a different way of seeing yourself.

Feel free to call on the mobile or reply to this email and book your spot or to find out more information. 

With best wishes,

Diarmaid Fitzpatrick

Mobile: 0403 133 115

d.fitzpatrick@awarenessbd.com

John Byrne

Mobile: 0439 899 352

coachinglifeworks@gmail.com

Dementia Australia is coming to visit us on Thursday the 17th of September for an information session about dementia and memory loss, covering brain health, practical tips, support services and more. It will be led by Leigh Mankey who is a Dementia Support Specialist.

This conversation will be a free event, and bookings can be made online here at our website.

The presentation will run from 1.30-3pm. We hope you can join us if you are interested for yourself or someone you love.

Thanks to those that came along on Monday for the AGM. If you are interested in reading our Annual Report for 2026 you can find it here.

And you can read all our past ones (for a bit of a reminisce) on our website under the About Us page …

Hi everyone,

We are just about prepared for our AGM tonight at 6pm! We are super grateful for all the work that our committee has put in in the last few weeks with reports and so forth. If you would like to come along to hear about what we’ve been doing this year (as well as for a spot of dinner!) then please book in at this link (before 12pm today).

This week we are wrapping up our programs for the term … so we hope to see you all at our last sessions of Heart-Centred Breathwork, CRUNCH and Cook by the Book. And we would like to thank Fran for hosting The Momentum to Write which has been such an awesome class for us to have here this term.

In other exciting news, I’m going to Timor-Leste with Friends of Baucau from the 5th-11th of September! Friends of Baucau is an amazing friendship organisation that connects the cities of Darebin and Yarra here in Victoria with the Municipality of Baucau in Timor-Leste. The purpose of the connection is to be provide shared learning and support. This will be a wonderful opportunity to talk to a range of local community leaders and community led organisations that are similarly operating at the hyper-local level, supporting women, families, youth, arts projects, permaculture programs and more. Last time I went (before Covid) it was an amazing and inspiring experience, and I hope I can learn a lot and come back with lots of great ideas again this time.

Whilst I am away Lee will be leading the Op-Shop tour (read on for more info…) which I will be super sad to miss out on! It is always lots of fun (and I LOVE op shopping).

Okay, that’s it this week. Hope to see you soon.

Cheers Leanne