Dr Helen Sheil

Helen is a community development practitioner, researcher, educator, essayist and poet. She works within communities, TAFE and Universities at undergraduate and post-graduate level developing resources and accredited programs for facilitators of community engagement across all sectors.

A founding member of Centre for Rural Communities, a collaborating member of the Victorian Universities Regional Research Network, and regional contributor and referee for New Community journal. Helen is an active presenter at regional, national and international conferences.

Her interest in skills, knowledge and resources relevant to community engagement began in Kensington working for Save the Children fund as After School Care Co-ordinator. In partnership with the Kensington Women’s and Childcare Co-operative they purchased a ‘home’ a welcoming place for families in 1975.  This became the Kensington Neighbourhood House and in 2025 she was invited by the Co-ordinator of the Kensington Neighbourhood House to join them in celebrating its continuing contribution to enriching community life.  Helen co-ordinated the Nunawading Adventure Playground, Eley Park Community Centre in Blackburn, then as Orbost Outreach Worker for East Gippsland Community College of TAFE she was active in establishing the first East Gippsland Neighbourhood House in Orbost.

For her, community is about place and the impact of policies that benefit or dimmish people’s ability to care for each other and the environment they are dependent on.

Two pivotal experiences shaped her understanding of the importance of local knowledge in public planning.  In 1993 after moving to Mirboo North from East Gippsland to teach in community development, she was one of many impacted by the Kennett-era policies that dismissed the value of rural communities.  It was a traumatic time. Her involvement in the Rural Women’s Program led by Helenè Brophy in Gippsland and the statewide Rural Women’s Network came to mind.  Both programs transformed the ways women could access and share information, raising awareness in public forums and leading change in meaningful ways for thousands of women and their communities.   Unemployed she embarked on a research degree at Monash University to find out if the approach used in these programs could be implemented more broadly.

Research includes:

• More than one way, A report on the Rural Women’s Network (1996) Social Researcher of Co-ordinated Care in South Gippsland (1995)
• Peeling the onion by reflection: the role of Neighbourhood Houses in disasters – Yarra Ranges (2009)
• Hard to Reach communities in Moreland (2008) and Deakin University;
• Unpacking community resilience: the contribution of business volunteering and potential future partnerships (2024-6).

This research led to the development of a Model of Collaborative Engagement for Transformation: nine key strategies that contributed to personal and community development in bringing about long-term change in relationships and understanding. The research informed a post-graduate course in Regional Community Development for facilitators accredited by Monash University (2000-2007).  As a contribution to the challenging field of community engagement Helen has revised and updated the professional development manual written for this course.

The Revised edition of Growing and Learning in Rural Communities (Sheil 2024) introduces facilitators to foundational theory of community engagement, a range of practice options then stories of change drawn from previous work by graduates and more recently community members keen to care for their communities and environments.

The revised edition share stories of hope while acknowledging the grief and trauma of current circumstances and policies.   Stories of connection across difference that led to new ways of being Australian.  Stories that emerged when facilitators have access to the wealth of knowledge, resources and skills available in this continually evolving field.  It is an invitation to professionalise the work to better share the responsibilities of creating a much-needed shift towards embedding local knowledge in public planning at all levels.

Further information on Growing and learning in rural communities – a 2024 revised edition – Centre for Rural Communities

Returning to East Gippsland in 2007 Helen and her partner bought a quirky caravan park on the banks of the Boggy Creek in Nowa Nowa. Concern for the Lake Tyers catchment led to hosting Stories of Influence (2014 – 2023) an annual event hosting stories of Lake Tyers that had been hidden away under the bed in letters, diaries, reports and hearts and minds that transformed the way we understood ourselves to be Australians. https://ruralcommunities.com.au/stories

Her recent work in a community recovery role in local government following devastating bushfires reinforced critical contribution of skilled facilitators working with communities prior to disasters. For communities to lead recovery following times of trauma is a huge ask when relationships prior to the disaster have been fragmented and regulatory. It is a challenging, complex task for community members and those at the front line of engagement predominantly in marginalised positions to establish partnerships of trust and connection that can benefit organisations and communities.

Publications include journal articles, book chapters, reflective essays, experiential resources, poems and community collaborations sharing transformative experiences of those who embraced a collaborative approach, and a professional development manual, and study circle kit on rural futures and preparation, management and recovery from disasters. https://ruralcommunities.com.au/publications

The shared stories remind us of what is possible and the challenges we face.  They offer strategies of collaboration, of ways institutions and organisations can provide access to resources, skills and knowledge to tackle complex and challenging situations towards changed outcomes.