Maria Harries has been involved with many organisations and causes over many years. She avoids being labelled and says that she is a frustrated gardener and would prefer to be  gardening than writing these days. Despite this she has many current interests and commitments. Maria’s professional commitments include being Senior Honorary Research Fellow at UWA, Adjunct Professor at Curtin University School and working as a researcher and research supervisor.  She has also held governance roles with a number of state and national organisations involved with funding, service delivery, health, mental health, violence, adult survivors of abuse, and child, adult and family welfare. During this podcast Maria referred to several podcasts that she regularly listens to including: The Minefield - Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens Soul Search podcast The philosophers zone’ podcast  A number of books were also mentioned including: Gondwana Theology - Garry Deverell  For Small Creatures Such As We: Rituals and reflections for finding wonder - Sasha Sagan A Bridge Between: Spanish Benedictine Missionary Women in Australia - Katherine Massam This podcast was recorded in 2020 before the outcome of the US Presidential election was known.

Living With Purpose Interviews

Maria Harries

Ashley Reid has been in senior roles in the community sector for over 20 years and is currently the CEO of Cancer Council WA. In this episode Ashley reflects on the experiences he has had in his leadership journey and how important mentors and learning experiences have been for him.

Ashley Reid

Angie Paskevicius has many hats that she wears and wide range of experiences that she brings to them. In this episode she talks about some of her early experiences and how they have influenced who she has become. This includes the experience of growing up in country Tasmania near an old-style institution for people with disability influencing her choice to become a Speech Pathologist. Angie has written about her early adult experiences and challenges and how they brought her to WA - see her blog here. In this conversation talks about she reconnected with her Lithuanian relatives after her father had died. He had come to Australia in his early twenties and he had eventually lost touch with them. A chance encounter a few years ago reconnected Angie with this extended family and has helped her see her father's story in a new light. Angie has worked in CEO roles at Therapy Focus and now Holyoake for over 20 years, and also been a Non-Executive Director on many Boards, including currently as Chairperson for Interchange WA. 

Angie Paskevicius

In this conversation Lou Forster speaks about how she is a connector, bringing people together in social and work situations and breaking down the barriers between people. No wonder she has found herself as Head of Brand & People at Chorus, an organisation which itself has a story of bringing people and organisations together in a very successful merger in WA. Lou has been working in the human services industry for 20 years and has been in a number of management and leadership positions in organisations and as a Non Executive Director. As a result she’s developed a lot of knowledge and skill, but reflects in this episode about how she’s now valuing the use of conversations with people as a powerful tool in her approach (and mentions Nicky Howe - see earlier episode). There's a lot to reflect on in this episode. At one point Lou reflects on how purpose in life encompasses both her work and personal lives: “Your resume and your eulogy very rarely have the same things in them. And sometimes we can spend our whole life building the resume. But at your funeral even if you have been hugely successful in your career It's very unlikely that anything in that career will be what people will talk about. So, I guess I don't know where or when I heard that, but I thought, okay, as much as I need to put work into building my resume, I also need to make sure that there are some things to say in my eulogy.” Lou mentions: Ear Hustle podcast Drive by Daniel Pink Chorus Voices Podcast Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Lou Forster

Series 1 of the Living with Purpose podcast was released in 2016. It's been a long time since then but I'm getting ready to do more episodes and will release them later in 2020. This episode reflects on some of the people and highlights from series 1.

Reset - reviewing series 1 - new episodes soon

Lynda Rose has done a number of things in her life, including being a real estate agent, and now a health and wellness consultant and coach. Lynda is a mother and grandmother and has done many things in a full life. In this interview she talks widely about some of the things that have influenced her and led her to where she is now. She’s finding purpose in her life through a focus on health and wellness and she’s finding ways of bringing her knowledge and energy to people that she has the opportunity to work with. She’s particularly focused on the food that we eat and how that can influence our health and the way that we feel. Lynda has a special focus on supporting women, which has also led her to practice as a Doula, which is a companion role for a woman who is giving birth. She was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma a few years ago, and is now living with disease free. But this experience has had an impact on her life and influenced her current life choices. She is living with an energy to help other people to live healthy and well lives, and for them not to wait until they have a significant life challenge.

Lynda Rose

I recently had a great conversation with Lucy Morris where she explained that her main role in life is tell stories of meaning and purpose. Lucy is the CEO at Baptistcare, a priest, a wife, a mother, a grandmother – the list goes on. I’ve known Lucy for over 20 years and I was struck in this conversation how she has grown into her beliefs and convictions in a such a powerful way. I encourage you to have a listen to the conversation as there is so much to learn from Lucy – she is a thoughtful and accomplished leader. I’m telling stories into the heart of the system and to the outer edges of the system. I’m trying to humanise and make visible the preciousness and uniqueness of the work that is done Lucy is someone who has reflected and learnt from the experiences in her life. A very telling comment she made in this interview was: When I stepped into Anglicare and I met people for the first time who were open and advocating around social justice issues – and I was rocked – absolutely rocked – all my middle class aspirational stuff came into question for the first time. So my young adulthood was shifted. And then when I got a job at MercyCare. For the first time I stepped into an organisation led by women, designed by women, seen through the eyes of women. And for the first time, the very first time, I saw female leadership in all its glory, and goodness me, this is very different. 

Lucy Morris

Rachael West has had a number of disparate pathways that have led her to be the founder and director of Finding Yoga. She’s been an engineer, worked in social enterprises, studied circus performance, and trained at an advanced level in yoga. If you get to meet Rachael all this seems logical and plausible. She’s a person who keenly observes her world and who is very interested in the people she meets. I was keen to interview Rachael as I have experienced her as someone who appears to think deeply about what she does, but also has a lightness about her that I’ve experienced as gentle confidence. In the course of this interview I came to see that she has many sources that have influenced her and that she is always learning. Today, she works with many people who experience pain and helps them to “live healthy, meaningful lives”. Rachael has grown her company, Yoga for Pain Care, into an organisation with national presence. Health practitioners and yoga teachers from four states of Australia and New Zealand have completed the training and form part of a network to help people with pain live better lives. Rachael’s Websites Finding Yoga Yoga for Pain Care

Rachael West

Anne Courtney, is a Coach, Retreat Facilitator and Leadership Consultant. In her past, Anne has worked as a social worker, and also led a small not for profit organisation, and in recent years has been running her own business supporting people to deal more effectively with relationships in their families, workplaces, and communities. In this interview I am struck by the changes that Anne has noticed in her life – how she has become more reflective herself over the years and has settled into a path of helping others to see the value of reflection, and how it can facilitate more purposeful action. Anne’s also involved in training people to become Ontological Coaches, which is a process where she enables people to reflect and learn about themselves and how they can support others to do the same. By helping people to become better observers of the human condition Anne is helping them to live better lives. Anne speaks of her desire to create non-violent spaces where people can come together and “and allow each other to be who we are without invading that space with our opinion and our judgement”. She also speaks of the importance of listening and allowing other people to be different to ourselves and that’s it’s ok to accept that. Anne currently is sharing in the live-in care of her father, who lives with dementia. She’s found this to be a time of learning and has appreciated the time to slow down. In this interview you’ll hear Anne’s reflections on who she is, and how she has created opportunities to live out her purpose.

Anne Courtney

Alicia Curtis is involved in many projects that may seem at first glance to be unconnected. She’s involved in the philanthropy project 100 Women, the Emerging Young Leaders on Boards project, and many other initiatives. What I learnt in having a conversation with Alicia is that she’s passionate about developing the leadership of people that she works with.She told me that “Purpose is a really simple concept – its really about giving your greatest talents in the greatest service to the world. I think a lot of people get caught up in this Holy Grail search – What is my PURPOSE! And I think that it is nothing more difficult than working out what are you good at and how can you serve the world with that.”

Alicia Curtis

There are some people, more than others, who make me smile. Suzanne Waldron fits into the category of those who do. She has an energy and authenticity that is infectious. What comes across in this interview is that Suzanne knows this about herself, and has worked out how she can use her ability to get on with people to help them live better lives. Suzanne specialises in the field of human behavioural change and holds a master’s degree in applied coaching and neuro linguistics. Suzanne works with individuals and organisations across Australia and internationally. She is a motivational speaker, coach and facilitator who influences long lasting positive change starting with self.

Suzanne Waldron

Ian Carter starts this interview by saying that he is a simple person, whose life has had an interesting journey. He started as a Teacher, became a Youth Officer, and a Director of Community Economic Development, before spending the last 20 years as CEO of Anglicare WA. Ian talks about how his Anglican faith has been a key factor in taking on this role, and also staying committed to it over the long term. He also reflects on how his commitment to social justice has deepened over the years, and how having passed 60 he has given himself the liberty to shout at the TV and radio when people make unjust statements. Ian will most likely retire in the next few years, and he reflects on how to do this well, and how he might reflect his purpose once he leaves Anglicare WA.

Ian Carter

Nicky Howe has done a number of different things in her life, and yet as this interview unfolds there appears to be thread of continuity which sews it all together. Her focus on relationships seems to be the golden thread that guides her path. Whilst she says that she didn’t recognise what her values were until her mid-thirties, Nicky lives a life which is congruent with them, and a life where she has found purpose in a range of different activities. Nicky works as the CEO of Southcare, and publishes a website at www.nickyhowe.com that has details on her coaching, retreats, leadership development, and her writing.

Nicky Howe

 Over the last year I have been thinking a lot about what my purpose is and what it is that I want to be focusing my time on. As I was doing this it was helpful to hear from some other people and understand how they see these things. Purpose is something so important but we don’t talk about it very often. It’s one of those subjects that seems too deep or personal for most occasions – something that isn’t part of normal conversation. So these interviews give you a way of listening to these types of conversations with a number of people.  

What the “Living With Purpose Interviews” are About

Penny Robison is an Assistant Lecturer at Monash University, doing a mixture of research and teaching.  She volunteers for the I CAN Network, and is one of the Young Adults group leaders for Aspergers Victoria.  She also likes cycling, but hasn’t done much of it over the past couple of years. She was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome at the age of 14.5, in Year 9, in 1997.  In 2015 it is 18 years since her diagnosis!

Penny Robinson

Interviews by Francis Lynch with people who are living their lives with purpose.