Stories from the Heart - The Weekly Service Podcast

Michelle Morgan has spent years building a creative practice and career in art therapy, and she now works in something called clinical pastoral care - offering emotional and spiritual support to patients in two major Melbourne hospitalsToday Michelle shares stories of moments of showing up with people in hospital, and also for herself, through creativity. She sees creativity as a spiritual practice, and believes that it can help us all feel more connected with ourselves, with others, and some...

Mash Quereshi is a Pakistani-born rapper and MC inspiring hope in people's hearts. Mash's early years were a lesson in impermanence as he moved between Pakistan and Australia, and changed schools often. When he was older he decided to go abroad on his own terms, travelling to Vietnam to teach English, and it’s here that he sets today’s story, telling the tale of his paradoxical quest to capture - once and for all - the importance of change in his life.

Ornob Sheikh is an artist, musician and deep feeling human, who grew up in Bangladesh surrounded by a large supportive family. He is also one of our Bards for this season and his story today is interwoven with him playing his beautiful instrument, the Sarod.It was only when Ornob moved to Melbourne in 2014 that he realized how rich in connection his childhood had been. He moved from Dhaka, rated one of the world’s least livable cities, to Melbourne which at the time held the top spot. While M...

Harley Hefford is a drama teacher who today's curator Eike describes as the most creative person he knows. Harley talks about why he thinks everybody is innately creative, how play might be useful in darker times, and how he brings imagination into his daily life, and overcomes creative blocks. Join Harley in this exploration of imagination as a multi-tool.

Valerie Albrecht has spent a lifetime building bridges.Trained as a speech pathologist, she began to feel that the Western medical model was missing a lot, and she set off to find out how she could really be of service to whole humans.This journey took her to study yoga and other eastern healing arts, as well as learning from, and being of service to, Indigenous communities, and drawing on the power of storytelling to heal and connect us. Valerie is in conversation with Weekly Service member ...

Uncle Peltherre Chris Tomlins is an Arrente elder who carries the message that “now is the time for all Australians to come together and begin the healing" - but first we need truth. Today he generously shares stories from his family, and talks about his yarning circles where non-Indigenous people can sit and listen to elders talk about the realities of colonisation, its ongoing impact and how we might come together and heal as a nation. The next yarning circle is planned for late ...

Matt Wicking is a musician, facilitator and writer and he’s also the current Bard for the weekly service, providing artistic contributions to this season.Today Matt steps into the role of storyteller, sharing not only some of his beautiful mythic songs, but also the stories behind them, which range from grappling with being a settler on stolen lands, to Matt’s experience of chronic fatigue syndrome, to an exploration of what it means to be grateful and optimistic in the midst of ecological cr...

Stacia Beazley is a trained holistic counsellor, facilitator, writer, mentor and all round feelings ninja. Today she’s talking about how reclaiming anger has been transformational in her life, and why she believes healthy anger is the medicine society needs right now. Starting with her childhood she maps out how the irresponsible use of anger caused her to cut off parts of herself to fit in, and how stepping into healthy anger allowed her to reclaim her power – not to dominate others or have ...

Jon Osborne is interested in how the conversations we have create the world we live in. The language and stories we share often define what we think is possible. And if we feel stuck, perhaps there’s a missing conversation we need to have. In this service Jon speaks with Kirsty Moergelein, tracking everything from Jon’s cockney heritage, to dating stories, to pivotal life moments of stepping off the known track, to their shared love of ontological design, which Jon describes as the architectu...

Today’s storyteller is the proud, queer Indigenous youth leader and artist, Aretha Brown. Through sharing her own stories of going to school in Australia, the 19 year-old Gumbaynggirr woman makes a powerful case for decolonizing the country’s education system. She’s clear - if Australian schools aren’t teaching Bla(c)k history then they're teaching White supremacy, and she links the lack of education about Aboriginal culture and history at her school, to a hate crime she experience...