Community-led

Our guiding document (draft)

One of Running for Resilience’s (R4Rs) objectives enroute to a suicide-free ACT is to be community-led. Community-led, to us, means our community taking either the R4R brand, or the concept of exercise and community, and implementing it in their sphere of influence.

We’re not a business, we’re not a charity, and we don’t want to be protective of R4R. We believe that anyone who identifies with us and wants to pursue our mission can do so, in the best way they see fit. We know that this method is somewhat untried and some people will get it wrong, but we believe that the aggregate of all our efforts will be significantly more positive than otherwise, and that the lessons learnt along the way are necessary to achieve our goal.

We need more leaders, not more followers, and we encourage you to follow the path that some of our community already has. Whether it be the Monday R4R that was set up by some Friday runners that were itching for more. Whether it be the Park Run team set up by big Tone’, or the countless running teams for events set up by Singh. Whether it be the blood donation team set up by Clare, or whether it be Maria and Murray aiming to start Strolling for Resilience later this year… Our community is taking the reigns and leading R4R, or the concept of exercise and community, in the direction that they think it needs to go.

If we are to achieve a suicide-free society, we need cultural change. And if we are to achieve cultural change, we need wide-spread advocacy… in the form of talking the talk, yes… but more importantly, in the form of walking the walk… or running…

We know that there’s a desire to do more, and we want you to feel comfortable doing so. As such, we’ve created a guiding document that will act as a reference point. You can always reach out and ask us questions or seek permission if that suits you, but please do not be afraid to lead, we need it.

The below document is a draft and in the essence of being community-led, we’ll take your feedback. Please feel free to offer any feedback in the comments.