Resilience Summit Speakers, Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich MP, Carolyn Dewaigeneire, Kath Mazzella, Hayley Solich and Sue Crawford

How do you measure the success of an event?

At Women Can International Inc we measure it by the number of people who attend who engage with the program and leave the building changed or empowered in some way.  It is not numbers but the message and the response to that message that is most important.

The Resilience Summit, which was held at the Dayspring Community Centre in Dianella, was opened by the Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich MP, Member for East Metropolitan Region, and Shadow Minister for Commerce and Small Business; Training and Mental Health. Ljiljanna shared about what resilience means to her and gave her own personal story of rebounding after the media crucified her when she was in office as the Minister for Education. She also shared her own strategies that she employed that helped her to cope with the incredible pressure that public life brings to bear.

Then Hayley Solich shared her story about overcoming the tragedies of being homeless at 17, feeling abandoned by both parents when her father kicked her out of the house, then losing her mother and two grandmothers in the same year as she rolled her car on a freeway. She shared how courage is not the absence of fear but the knowledge that there is something greater than that which we fear and how resilience is not the absence of hardships and trials, but rather the knowledge that there is something far greater that is at work in our lives and will be wrought through our difficulties.

Sue Crawford was the next speaker and shared her journey of coming to terms with the loss of her beautiful, intelligent 22-year-old daughter who was on the cusp of her career and life when she was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. She shared how our lives are changed when we lose a child, how it is not the normal order of life, and one of the hardest losses to come to terms with.

Then Kath Mazzella shared her story and how she has been able to turn her situation around to create change in the way we think about gynaecology. How she is influencing people around the globe and about International Gynae Awaereness Day and how it is being taken up by both medical professionals and the community.

Finally Carolyn Dewaigeneire shared her moving story of the hardships that life has thrown at her, with the loss of her precious husband and the love of her life to cancer and then the devastation of having her genitalia unnecessarily and without permission removed by a derranged doctor. Carolyn shared how she is fighting for justice and urged those in attendance to support her in getting 10,000 signatures together so that she can appeal to the government to ensure that judges are unable to overrule the findings of a jury.

Overall, the feedback from the evening has been VERY positive and certainly, this is the first Resilience Summit, with many more to come!

We’d love to hear your feedback about the event and if you would like to be involved in future Resilience Summits please contact us via our Contact Us page.

Here is what some of those who attended had to say…

“The venue was was excellent, food was fresh and very acceptable. Speakers were excellent and I didn’t mind that it ran overtime as it was very worthwhile.  I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and would love to attend anything else similar.” – Susan, Counsellor.

“The whole night was a real eye-opener for me, it’s the difference between reading something in a magazine, and seeing and hearing it in the flesh.” – Rhionagh, Journalist.