We have created the role of Keynote Listener for our conference. In our initial discussions about the nature of the conference, we came to the idea that instead of presenting someone as a source of great expertise and knowledge, we would look for a person who could listen to everything that was happening at the conference, and articulate their listening back to us in a way that enlarged our horizons and our own insights.
We feel privileged to accept Rachel Shields as our Keynote Listener for the conference. Susan Goff, President of SLaM, describes Rachel as “perhaps one of the most uniquely sensitive, courageous and creative people I have ever met”.
Also known as Nainiouman Coya Coya, Rachel is a descendant of the Gamilaroy and Weilwan peoples of North Western New South Wales. Her early upbringing was composed of living and learning on the land with her family and also in urban multicultural environments.
Today Rachel walks alongside Elders within the community in sharing cultural knowledge and wisdom to inspire reflective connection between cultures, modalities and streams of thought. At present Rachel lives in Melbourne and employs innate intuition and deep listening to inform her navigations in the many worlds in which she walks.
An inspirational and richly talented human being, Rachel inspires and provokes deeper insights; she is an independent thinker with an ability to instigate authentic communication which in turn, brings beautiful things into being that otherwise would remain unformed.
As our Keynote Listener, Rachel will bring her practices of listening to the whole conference community as it comes into being, resonating with insights, creative developments, emerging individual and collective self-awareness that will forge the SLaM community’s presence.
Rachel will guide synthesis sessions, be in conversation and dialogue with individuals and groups, and work with the Facilitator Team to support the integration of the Strands as they support delegates’ inquiries.
Please visit Rachel’s websites and enjoy her virtual presence as an introduction to your being with her at our event.