Warrandyte – Small Group, Big Conversations About Emotional Preparedness
Our final workshop for the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon, with a small but deeply engaged group of six Warrandyte residents. Quality, not quantity, defined the session. The room brought together people new to the area, Black Saturday survivors, a former Metropolitan Fire Brigade leader, and residents who had lived through fires in the 1960s, Black Saturday and Black Summer.
One of the ongoing challenges for the Immersive Bushfire Experience Foundation is that the people who attend our workshops tend to already be aware of the risk. Many are proactive, informed and attuned to the realities of bushfire. We are constantly wrestling with how to reach the residents who are most vulnerable to fire because they don’t yet understand the risk, don’t have a plan, or haven’t taken steps to prepare emotionally.
It was refreshing, then, to meet one such resident on Sunday. Their reflections - particularly about wanting to encourage their partner and family to begin preparing - sparked rich conversations in the room. Their questions and observations became powerful catalysts for others to reflect on their own experiences, triggers and decision-making processes.
The session took place amid a striking collection of Black Saturday news clippings, carefully curated by Dick from the Warrandyte Community Association, our host for the afternoon. The clippings lined the walls and served as a sober, grounding backdrop: a visual reminder of why this work matters, and why emotional preparedness can’t be an afterthought.
For a small group, the conversations ran deep. The courage shown by participants in revisiting past experiences and confronting future risks was felt by everyone in the room.
