Bringing Community Back Together

What does it really take to bring community back together? Sometimes it starts with a pair of boots on the ground

Mel Knuckey has spent her career doing the quiet, essential work of community connection - from her early days as a shy 18-year-old joining Rotaract on the Central Coast, to running 16 intergenerational programs across Tasmania in under a year as Community Programs Coordinator at COTA Tasmania.

In this conversation, Mel reflects on finding her purpose, the moment something "just clicked" working in community development, and why she believes real change happens on the ground

We talk about:

*The Generations Connect Tech Together program, connecting young people with older residents in residential aged care homes across southern Tasmania through digital literacy and genuine friendship

*Student Sophie, who came in wanting to work in childcare and left with a traineeship in aged care, one of many young people now considering careers they'd never imagined

*The very real aged care workforce crisis, and why intergenerational programs might be part of the solution

*What it means to embed these programs into school curriculum at Years 9 and 10 (and the funding reality that sits behind that vision)

*The AIIP (Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice) and the growing movement of practitioners across Australia and New Zealand working toward systems change

*And the boots. The beautiful, bold, mandala-printed boots that have sparked more genuine conversations in aged care homes than any icebreaker activity ever could.

"Working in community was where I felt really alive and found my purpose in life." — Mel Knuckey

If you have an old tablet or smartphone you no longer use, or new ones you would like to donate COTA Tasmania would love to hear from you. Reach out via the Heart & Soul Story socials and we'll connect you with the right people.

A huge thank you to Hazel Brothers , Tasmanian family-owned builders, for donating 25 tablets to the program.

That's community in action.

Bringing Community Back Together is hosted by Samantha Heron, founder of Heart & Soul Story

New episodes dropping regularly .... subscribe so you don't miss one. Pls comment, like and share to help Bring Community Back Together

Connect with Mel:COTA Tasmania — cotatas.org.au

Connect with Sam:heartandsoulstory.com

Join the movement to transform how we feel about ageing:

https://goodflock.org/get-involved/

I had a chat with children's author Brenton Cullen this week about his beautiful, warm and deeply relevant book The Prime Minister Problem

"Old folks might feel a little left out. Lonely. So they hide away. They can seem angry or sad — but they might just want a friend."

This is a children's book. Yet it captures something that researchers, clinicians and community workers spend entire careers trying to articulate with the same depth. It gently points to something many of us are sensing — that ​as we fragment and become too 'busy' as a community, so too does our everyday experience of connection and belonging

Brenton Cullen writes about a boy, his grandmother, Meals on Wheels rounds, and the quiet devastation of an older person being moved far from the community that knows them.

It is a story written for children, but it is most definitely a story for all of us. After over 7 years working on ways to increase intergenerational connection, this is the first episode of Bringing Community Back Together — and I could not have asked for a better place to begin.

For more info go to heartandsoulstory.com

Pre order the Book https://rivetedpress.com.au/bookshop/the-prime-minister-problem-pre-order

Bringing Community Back Together is a podcast about what happens when we stop trying to solve wellbeing in isolation — and start rebuilding connection across generations, roles, and communities.

Hosted by Samantha Heron, founder of Heart & Soul Story, this series explores the growing impact of social fragmentation on our mental health — from rising anxiety in young people to loneliness and loss of role in older adults — and asks a simple but powerful question: what if the answer lies between us, not within us?

Through conversations with a diverse range of voices — educators, aged care leaders, young people, authors, and social commentators — this podcast uncovers the moments, ideas, and initiatives that are quietly reshaping how we relate to one another.

From a young boy whose mission to help his grandmother sparks change across an entire town, to school communities rethinking what wellbeing really means, each episode reveals the ripple effect that connection can have — not just on individuals, but on the systems we live within.

This is not just a podcast about ageing, or youth, or mental health in silos. It’s about the space in between.
It’s about contribution, belonging, and the human need to feel that we matter — at every stage of life.

If you’ve ever felt that something is missing in how we do community today…
you’re not alone.

And you’re in the right place.