community

12/10/2021
Author: David Clark on 12/10/2021
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Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD): Nurture Development

I believe strongly in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) as a powerful way forward for communities. I’ve written about this invaluable approach in three blogs on this website: Community Building: ‘Mental health is not a product of pharmacology or a service that can be singularly provided by an institution: […]
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07/10/2021
Author: David Clark on 07/10/2021
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Community Capacities & Community Necessities

I have previously posted articles about Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) entitled Community Building and Sustainable Community Development: From What’s Wrong to What’s Strong – Cormac Russell. The ABCD approach focuses on a community’s assets, capacities and abilities. Historical evidence indicates that significant community development takes places only when local community […]
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01/10/2021
Author: David Clark on 01/10/2021
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The Politics of Belonging: George Monbiot

I love the writings of George Monbiot and look out for his articles in the Guardian.  I enjoyed reading his new book Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis and it made me reflect upon the way that western society has been going. […]
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20/09/2021
The children of Carrolup in their schoolroom with the White family and visitors from Katanning. Photographer: Noelene White, late 1948 or early 1949. Noel & Lily White Collection.
Author: David Clark on 20/09/2021
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Facilitating Healing at Carrolup, Part 1

Some of you will know one of the main reasons I became involved with the Carrolup story was because of my interest in the healing of trauma and its consequences (e.g. mental health problems, addiction). I was looking for a story about the healing of trauma amongst Aboriginal […]
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07/11/2019
Judy Atkinson, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Author: David Clark on 07/11/2019
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What Is Healing and How Does It Occur?

In past blogs, I have described the enormous impact that Judy Atkinson and her book Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines – The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia had on my personal beliefs and on the work I do. The book inspired me to develop the educational […]
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23/05/2019
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D, author of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Author: David Clark on 23/05/2019
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Healing Trauma: Overlooking Fundamental Truths

Over the past fifty years, psychiatric medications have become a mainstay in our culture, with dubious consequences.  The theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs has become accepted by psychiatrists, doctors, the media and the […]
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09/05/2019
Author: David Clark on 09/05/2019
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Community Building

Here’s an article on asset-based community development (ABCD) which I wrote some time ago for the Kinship Connections WA website. This approach can facilitate healing in a community. “Mental health is not a product of pharmacology or a service that can be singularly provided by an institution: it is […]
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01/05/2019
Dr Lewis Mehl- Madrona with Barbara Mainguy of the Coyote Institute for Studies of Change and Transformation.
Author: David Clark on 01/05/2019
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The Healing Power of Story: Lewis Mehl-Madrona

Lewis Mehl-Madrona is a man I greatly admire and his book Healing the Mind Through the Power of Story is well worth a read. Here is an interesting section from the book: ‘The narrative movement in psychiatry is concerned with understanding the stories of pain and suffering told […]
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13/03/2019
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz.
Author: David Clark on 13/03/2019
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Relationships, Connection and Healing from Trauma

For anyone interested in the healing of childhood trauma, I strongly recommend you read, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And other Stories From a Child Psychiatrists Notebook by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz. Here is a description of the book from the back cover: ‘What happens when […]
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05/02/2019
Leaning tree by Milton Jackson, pastel on paper, 41 x 33cm, c.1949. Noel & Lily White Collection, Berndt Museum of Anthropology. [WU7568]
Author: David Clark on 05/02/2019
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Pathways to Aboriginal Healing

The first step in re-establishing healthy communities is to acknowledge and understand the impact of the colonial legacy on the lives of Aboriginal people today and the various pathways necessary for healing from historical trauma, using both cultural and contemporary understandings and processes.’ Helen Milroy, Pat Dudgeon and Roz […]
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26/01/2019
Judy Atkinson, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Author: David Clark on 26/01/2019
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Judy Atkinson: Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Huge congratulations to Judy Atkinson, who today becomes a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the Indigenous community, to education and to mental health. This is such wonderful news, truly well-deserved.  As I have said a number times, Judy’s book Trauma Trails: Recreational Song Lines […]
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09/01/2019
Eilean Donan Castle at the entrance of Loch Duich in Scotland.
Author: David Clark on 09/01/2019
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A Journey Toward Recovery: From the Inside Out

Some of you will know that I have worked in the addiction and mental health field for over 40 years, spending the first 25 years as a neuroscientist working on the brain neurotransmitter dopamine. I eventually closed my laboratory because I: (1) stopped believing in disease models of […]
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