Impactful Monash Workshops... "You saved my life!"

"You saved my life!" was the written feedback we received from a mature, wise and senior member of the Monash community after the delivery of a workshop encouraging attendees to discover or re-discover their purpose.

The Finding Purpose Series started with a simple idea: to bring disparate Local Government Area (LGA) entities together to deliver a series of workshops that would make a difference to the community.

It evolved into a series of five free workshops to help people 55+ in Monash to uncover or rediscover their purpose in the areas of:

• Industry and Innovation
• The Arts and Being Artistic
• Life-long Learning, and
• Civic Science

The five free workshops will be delivered by the LGA entities / workshop partners: Eastern Innovation, Monash Gallery of Art, Monash Libraries and Monash Tech School. The entire program was proudly funded by the City of Monash through its 2019 Community Grants Program.

The series kicked off with a launch workshop that was co-designed and delivered by regional partners and expert Jarred Kellerman from CIRE Services.

At the launch, Jarred explained the makeup of Purpose:

Purpose = Passions + Values + Gifts

Passions

Jarred asked, "What are you passionate about?" and, amusingly, "What gets you so engaged that you forget to eat and poop?" It certainly got the attendees thinking.

Values

Values, Jarred shared, are those internal and powerful principles or standards that define decisions and behaviour. Attendees were given a simple Russ Harris process to identify their values.

Gifts

Jared explained that people tend to do the things they are skilled or good at. For some, gifts are obvious and they work toward fulfilling our dreams and enjoy life. For other, gifts evolve over time and might take some effort or help to uncover. Jarred encouraged the audience to try new things to discover or redefine their gifts and skills.

Following Jarred's presentation each workshop partner presented a preview of their upcoming workshops. Attendees were told to expect hands-on experiences at each workshop to understand how they can use their experience, wisdom and time to enjoy and contribute to that local sector.

During the event, attendees had the chance to undertake an optional, online and anonymous psychometric assessment to highlight the segment/s of most interest to them. They also had the opportunity to book into one of the four upcoming workshops to delve deeper into that segment.

"...PS. I booked into all 4 Workshops."

More than 30 people attended the launch and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees expressed gratitude for the chance to explore how how they can stay active and relevant. These two pieces of feedback warmed hearts:

"You saved my Life"

"Very useful - very interesting. No-one has done anything like this before that I'm aware of. Glad to see us oldies aren't being left on the scrub-heap as if we're past it and no good for anything!!"

Know someone over 55 who'd like to explore their purpose? They can still register for the remaining workshops here https://findingpurposeforseniors.eventbrite.com.au

Want to duplicate the Finding Purpose Series in your LGA for Seniors, or perhaps another segment? Reach out to Danielle Storey who will share all the details.