Accessthestory

On June the 1st, 2025, AccessTheStory celebrated its 10th anniversary.  We were a year too late as we were established in 2014, but it was worth waiting to celebrate 10 years well.As part of the celebration we held an afternoon tea for our supporters to be celebrated.  At this event we set up 7 stations presenting our 5 current projects - Junktion, Verge, SoulWalk, Converge, and Resolute Love.  Each of the stations included a 3-7 minute podcast telling the story of each project.We’ve pieced all of those bits of commentary together to provide another space for our ATS radio community to celebrate.Enjoy!

I've just picked up Mark Sayers' book 'a non-anxious presence' for a second read, and it's truer now than it was two years ago. The need to understand what it means to lead from the 'gray zone' - from the in-between - continues to be super-relevant. I'm wondering what it looks like for me as I pick up some unfinished business in my own leadership.

I've always loved telling stories. Pictures in our minds capture the imagination in a way that moves us to response. In my opinion, a parable trumps data and lecture any day. This episode gives commentary around the value of story in the realm of mental health, and interacts with three parables I've been working on: "A hundred dollars"; "Peach Stones and the Tree of Life.", and; "Elvis in the Judean Foothills". Music credit: And then I wake up - spring gang Some Air - Gloria Tells Where She'll Go - Mimmi Bangoura Fly Back To Me - Gloria Tells

A reflection on four conversations I had in late January -- identifying some key questions and musings on the relevance of the Resolute Love Project. "Resolute Love can become an on-ramp into best practice therapeutic care through a lived experience learning approach." Music credit: Silhouettes - Ray & Ray. The blame game - Dasloe.

Pulling back the curtain on some of my planning for the Resolute Love project this year. It feels a bit like I'm building the plane as it prepares for take-off, but perhaps that's the nature of innovation! These are some of my 2024 priorities as I grapple with the question of how my own experiences and skills intersect with the needs of parents supporting young people. Music credit: The Blame Game - Dasloe. My All Time - Ray & Ray.

Our third and final episode discussing the profile of a Mental Health Caregiver. As part of a focus on our Resolute Love project, we're introducing the final aspects of the Caregiver Profile - 'resource aware' and 'marginally supported'. We'd love it if you could complete (or share) the next round of our survey: www.resolute.today An infographic of findings from the pilot survey can be found here: https://accessthestory.com/projects/resolute-love Other research referred to in the episode can be found here: https://wildlabadelaide.org/ and here:https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/2020-21 Music Credits: Red Pool by Jobii - https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/0KHFnVVruh/ Shelter by Across the Great Valley - https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/mnAugOhqJr/ Hopeful by Nebulae - https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ncRJBdskYE/

This is our second episode with a focus on our Resolute Love Project, giving insight into the profile of a Mental Health Caregiver. This episode furthers our discussion with another two aspects of a Caregiver Profile. We're in the midst of gathering more data on the subject -- the survey can be found here: www.resolute.today An infographic of findings from the pilot survey can be found here: https://accessthestory.com/projects/resolute-love Other research referred to in the episode can be found here: https://wildlabadelaide.org/ and here:https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/2020-21

As part of our Resolute Love Project, we've launched a survey to assist us in discovering the profile of a Mental Health Caregiver. This episode is a discussion around the findings from our pilot survey - presenting two aspects of a Caregiver Profile. The current survey can be found here: www.resolute.today An infographic of findings from the pilot survey can be found here: https://accessthestory.com/projects/resolute-love Other research referred to in the episode can be found here: https://wildlabadelaide.org/ and here: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/social-isolation-and-loneliness-covid-pandemic

AccessTheStory is thrilled to be able introduce our newest team member, Adrian Blenkinsop. For many years we have worked alongside Adrian in his coordination of the CONVERGE network in Australia and New Zealand, and we're now excited to be able to see him continue in this work as part of the AccessTheStory team. This episode we get to hear a little of Adrian's story, his heart for ministry, and the current work of CONVERGE. You'll find info regarding CONVERGE on our website here: https://accessthestory.com/workshops/converge And a little bit about Adrian here: https://accessthestory.com/team/adrian-blenkinsop

Today, on a bonus episode in our 're-engage' season, I'm chatting with Richard Sharp. Richard and I have been good friends for many years -- working alongside one another on a number of projects, and being responsible for the encouragement (and sometimes distraction) of one another. Richard's new initiative: 'project nexus', not only complements the direction that ATS is headed, it also brings a fresh opportunity to see innovative leaders equipped for ministry in a complex and unpredictable climate. Check Richard's work out here: https://www.projectnexus.org.au/

We are four episodes in to our 're-engage' season -- having covered questions like 'what we're about' and 'what we do', we then spent some time thinking about our VERGE project. Each of our projects are a response to a roadblock to faith formation. For the VERGE project we thought about the metaphor of 'pulpit' as an obstruction to learning. The RESOLUTE LOVE project seeks to overcome the roadblock of the 'platform' -- where the distance created by depersonalised messaging can amplify a sense of feeling disconnected. If you're someone who is caring for a person struggling with their mental health, then we want to help you find connection with others in the same boat. We're still exploring the best ways to do this, but if you know anything about ATS, you'll know it starts with story -- which is why we're beginning by giving you the opportunity to tell yours. The first step of this project is gathering some stories through our online survey - you can f

The projects we adopt are responses to roadblocks to faith formation. VERGE is a project seeking to overcome a big obstruction to learning -- the pulpit. Notsomuch the piece of furniture, but what it can represent in people's minds as they engage with the Story of God. In this third episode of our 're-engage' series, you'll get to hear a couple of examples of how the power barrier of the pulpit is dismantled -- opening up some significant moments for people to access God's Story. You'll find more information about the VERGE project on our website -- https://accessthestory.com/workshops/verge

The second episode in our short 're-engage' season deals with the mission or 'ambition' of AccessTheStory. Following a season of retreat -- more like sabbatical -- we've identified the opportunity to broaden our scope while still valuing the work we've done so far. Here's some of our thinking around that, and an introduction to our new mission statement -- 'releasing people into God's Story through timely ministry responses.'

Coming back to the airwaves after a season of retreat, we're starting a short season to re-enage our support-base and ministry networks. Today you'll get an unfiltered insight into Trav's heartbeat for AccessTheStory, a bit of the story over the years, and some core practices that sustain our hopes for the future. Enjoy!

how mental health first aid helps us go deeper in our understanding and experience of the incarnation

As Trav reflects on some recent conversations with churches who are trying to find Youth Pastors, he asks the question: "Is the apparent lack of good youth ministry practitioners in local churches symptomatic of a larger problem?" Trav gives four suggestions to help navigate this larger problem.

In the midst of a mental health epidemic, and overly-simplistic religious posturing, what if the care of God is more holistic than we ever imagined?

My church has experienced a migration of sorts over the last few months.  Covid seems to have accelerated the process for people to change their spiritual home, but I'm not sure a church transfer will necessarily equate to spiritual renewal.

We're exploring what it means to plant a micro-church - here's a short reflection on one of the key questions we ask our group.

Part two - where Bekk Sellars  explains what she means by  "My Calcutta".  Do yourself a favour, and listen to Bekk unpack the story of how she initiated the youth outreach community in her neighbourhood, and how she has seen God bring light into the darkness. (Part one of two).