{"id":75256,"date":"2019-05-27T10:09:23","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T08:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=75256"},"modified":"2019-05-27T10:09:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T08:09:23","slug":"iskcon-australias-first-community-services-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=75256","title":{"rendered":"ISKCON Australia\u2019s First Community Services Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nNew Govardhana devotees will host Australia\u2019s first community services conference, aimed at bringing together devotees who desire to develop all types of Vaishnava care and support programs. (Image credit: Hladini devi dasi)<\/em><\/p>\n

By Krishnarupa devi dasi & Hladini devi dasi<\/p>\n

On 1 June 2019, devotees from various temples in Australia will attend a one-day conference on New Govardhana farm, Murwillumbah, Northern New South Wales. Presenters at the conference will be devotees who are developing Vaishnava community welfare services including mentoring, counseling, mental health support, youth support, widows support, palliative care and caring for the sick, women\u2019s support, social justice and more. <\/p>\n

Hladini devi dasi (Dr H.E.Widolf) from New Govardhana\u2019s mental health development team has coordinated the conference in response to the increasing interest manifesting in the local devotee population to provide effective personal support for community members. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to not only unite and integrate the various Vaishnava care groups in the New Govardhana district, but also to pioneer a new way forward for ISKCON centers around the world, for future devotee support forums,\u201d says Hladini devi dasi.<\/p>\n

Some of the groups that will be represented at the conference are already up and running with their various services, but much more is on the horizon for most of the groups. Many New Govardhana devotees who are currently heading up programs are keen to expand their services by either professionalizing their activities or applying for funding from local and regional governments.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments in Australia definitely allocate funding for independent groups such as NGOs and religious communities who desire to develop their own community welfare services. Our task is to learn how to attract such funding,\u201d says Hladini.<\/p>\n

Krishnarupa devi dasi (ACBSP), Women\u2019s Minister for Australia, states, \u201cAlthough Srila Prabhupada stressed from the beginning of ISKCON how important it is to care for devotees and to regard each other as family members, it has taken us some time to fully incorporate these maxims into our daily lives. With devotee care committees being set up, and with the Vaishnavi Ministry actively ensuring the safety and wholistic health of the women in the movement, there is now an emphasis on truly caring for each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, during 2018 and 2019, I have been traveling to our ISKCON centers in Australia and presenting the Sexual Harassment Identification and Prevention seminar. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the attendees. Later on this year, I will be rolling out a domestic and family violence prevention workshop around Australia. Such seminars really help the devotees. Every member of ISKCON is entitled to serve in a safe, nurturing environment. Community Services Conferences, like the one Hlandini devi dasi has organized, are a positive effort in this direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of New Govardhana\u2019s first community service programs was the Mentorship Program, which has now been running for more than six years. Unlike other mentoring programs on offer within ISKCON, New Govardhana provides one-on-one mentoring for bhaktas and bhaktines, as well as for more established devotees feeling that they need personal support in their lives. Potential mentees are offered the opportunity to establish an exclusive and confidential relationship with a senior devotee (same-gender only) who can act as their guide, friend, confidant and well-wisher in Krishna consciousness. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo far,\u201d says Ambika devi dasi (ACBSP), the current program coordinator for women\u2019s mentoring, \u201cwe have been successful in delivering a number of young women to the point of taking initiation, something that we had only hoped to be able to achieve at the program\u2019s inauguration. As the program has progressed, we have also expanded it to provide one-on-one support for women in various situations, not only newcomers. Some are already initiated, but feel reassured to have an older devotee looking out for them and being there for them.
\n\u201cThe relationship between mentor and mentee is mutually rewarding, with strong friendships often developing. In the mentor-mentee relationship, our idea is to link like-minded personalities, or those with common interests and proclivities. So far, we have had success with this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nNew Govardhana Mentorship Program has been running for more than six years, catering for newcomers as well more established devotees wanting personal support. (image credit: Hladini devi dasi)<\/em><\/p>\n

The conference scheduled for 1 June includes a morning session with numerous senior devotees delivering PowerPoint presentations accompanying short seminars. After lunch prasad, all attendees will be invited to participate in a \u2018round-table discussion\u2019 aimed at generating further interest in developing programs. Conference organisers are also hoping to coordinate the creation of a media platform on which all the various service groups can combine information about what they have to offer.<\/p>\n

The conference will be live streamed and later posted on YouTube. Accompanying PowerPoint slides will also be published into PDF format and uploaded with the video. Anyone interested in tuning into the live streaming portal on the day of the conference can do so by logging in to ISKCON New Govardhana on Facebook. The conference starting time is 9:30 a.m. NSW time (same as Sydney time).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"On 1 June 2019, devotees from various temples in Australia will attend a one-day conference on New Govardhana farm, Murwillumbah, Northern New South Wales. Presenters at the conference will be devotees who are developing Vaishnava community welfare services including mentoring, counseling, mental health support, youth support, widows support, palliative care and caring for the sick, women\u2019s support, social justice and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75258,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75256\/revisions\/75258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}