‘Reintegrating people into society is a big part of this project’ 

By the time he was incarcerated, prison was a fate then-30-year-old Richard Brooking had been tempting for more than a decade.

Born in New Zealand, he moved to Mount Tamborine on the Gold Coast with his mum when he was a child.

“We left the family. Part of it was [because] my father was in jail. And my mum was quite young and from a rough area, so she had her ups and downs,” he said.

Sunshine Coast local Richard Brooking will travel to over 10 states in the USA in early 2025 to research lived-experience programs and their benefit for at-risk youth. Credit: Churchill Fellowship

Like many young individuals affected by intergenerational trauma and instability, Brooking searched for a sense of community and found it in the wrong place, which is how he became involved in drugs.

By the time he finished high school, he was using and selling, a world he would be entrenched in for the next decade.

“I started smoking pot when I was about 15. [After leaving school] I ended up getting involved in ecstasy and cocaine, and then eventually ice.

“I then set up a drug lab, but I got caught fairly quickly.”

Brooking spent six months in prison. He describes reintegrating into “healthier areas of society” as challenging: “How you feel other people judge you because of your criminal record is so debilitating. I was always so anxious.” But it marked the beginning of a determinedly different decade.

Since being released, Brooking has obtained a business and law degree, a masters in philanthropy and not-for-profit, and become a passionate social justice advocate. He currently works between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane as a legal officer for mentally ill and disabled individuals.

This year, he was one of 15 Queenslanders awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake eight weeks of immersive study, an opportunity that will see Brooking travel to the USA to research lived-experience programs for at-risk youth.

“I’ll be looking at how ex-prisoners in America [influence] these very hard-to-reach youth, that often no one else, or no other systems, can.

“It’s all based on something as simple as trust. These young people trust these credible messengers because they come from the same neighbourhood, same ethnicity, [and] they’ve been to prison.

“If you can get a rehabilitated offender to work with these kids, it’s quite powerful.”

Brooking hopes to use this research to explore how similar lived-experience programs might be deployed in Australia.

Back on Tamborine Mountain, Nev Jones is also using lived experience to inform his fellowship research project next year.

Psychologist and veteran Nev Jones will travel to five countries next year to investigate the mental health benefits of green woodworking in therapeutic sessions for veterans.Credit: Churchill Fellowship

The practising psychologist and former Army Intelligence Officer will travel to Japan, Latvia, Sweden, the UK and the USA to investigate the mental health benefits of green woodworking in therapeutic settings for veterans.

“I’ve always been an avid woodworker...it’s something I’ve done to maintain my own sanity and stay grounded over some pretty stressful times in my life,” he said.

Jones was 20-years-old when he joined the army. Halfway through his training at the Royal Military College in Duntroon, the September 11 attacks happened. “That was a really pivotal moment in my career.”

He spent the next two decades serving in the military, working over multiple deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Timor Leste. When he retired from service, he became a psychologist, specialising in providing support to veterans and emergency service workers.

“Veterans tend to gravitate to me because of my background. I can speak the language and understand it,” Jones said.

“In my heart of hearts, they’re still my people.”

Green woodworking has helped Jones strengthen those connections and engage a cohort who might struggle in therapeutic settings. “Sitting in a room face-to-face with someone, often a male, and having to talk about deeply personal and traumatic situations can be a barrier to communication [for veterans].

“Quite often in sessions, I’ll incorporate a simple woodworking task. So that might be carving a wooden spoon or set of chopsticks with some rudimentary tools.

“It gives [patients] another point of focus [and allows] them to engage in meaningful and purposeful actions with their body.”

The “green” element brings individuals closer to nature, by extension helping people to process and heal from trauma and reduce stress. “Veterans have quite a strong affinity with nature.

“We’re working with unseasoned green, freshly harvested wood...the material is almost a link between the person and the natural world.

“The closer we can live our life with those natural forces, the more at peace our body becomes.”

Through the fellowship, Jones hopes to learn from countries with stronger cultural ties to woodworking, improving his services on a technical level, as well as informing best-practice for future veterans transitioning from the military.

“We know from [the recent] Royal Commission [into Defence and Veteran Suicide] that veterans transitioning from service often find it difficult to find purpose and meaning in life.

“Reintegrating people out of the army and into society is a major part of this project.”