Glen Ochre’s Autobiography: Child of the Earth

“A compelling life story of overcoming adversity, beautifully told.” — Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year

Glen Ochre had a tough, wild and courageous life. She influenced thousands of individuals through her life’s work and her story will inspire generations to come. Written in Glen’s clear and forthright voice, it takes us on a remarkable journey of resilience and strength. Donate to this campaign to publish Glen’s autobiography, Child of the Earth, and help to create a more collaborative and loving world.

Glen was driven by a passion for a just, non-violent and sustainable world that arose from her own experience of violence, poverty and discrimination. These forces propelled her work as an activist, counsellor, social worker, nurse and educator. Through these activities, Glen developed a passion for groupwork –  she believed in the transformational power of groups and their capacity to bring about change for the wider good.

Glen co-founded Commonground Training Resources and the Groupwork Institute of Australia and became one of the world’s leading teachers of facilitation and collaborative process. Her first book, Getting Our Act Together: How To Harness the Power of Groups, was published in 2013.

Glen wrote her autobiography in her final year of life while struggling with pancreatic cancer. It tells of her childhood of poverty and abuse, when she found a deep spiritual connection in the bush. Through tragedies and years of single parenthood, Glen retained her faith in Mother Earth and went on to study social work. She forged new ways of working with marginalised groups at the Brotherhood of St Laurence and helped set up refuges for women, all the while maintaining her enthusiasm for life and her own brand of practical feminism.

Child of the Earth lays out the foundations of Glen's teachings built on the deep wisdom she began to develop from an early age when she found solace under her favourite tree deep in the bush. We seek to take this book into the world to share Glen’s story and inspire new ways of living and working together.

"I'm so pleased to be able to support this project and I hope you can too. Glen was my teacher in the very first year of the Groupwork Institute's Advanced Diploma in Group Facilitation. Her wisdom guides me every day in my work with the Greens." — Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens Senator for Victoria. 

"I think her greatest achievement was what she turned her pain into. She turned her pain toward the service of others. She turned lead into gold. I know that she was committed to a whole life, and I know she lived it. What more can we do?” — Jon Bauer, author of Rocks in the Belly.

To find out more about Glen’s life, read her obituary in The Age newspaper here.

From Child of the Earth:

"From as early as five years old I had begun to ‘go walkabout’ as my parents called it. I would take a few food supplies and head out early in the morning and come home only when it was getting dark. One time, when I was seven years old, I went exploring in an area I had not gone to previously and got lost. As it started to get dark, I was a little bit frightened at being lost, but I knew not to go wandering about at night. Luckily I always took matches with me on my expeditions, so I found shelter between two giant boulders and I built myself a fire. I remember the huge boulders above me and the fire out in front, and a sense of being held came over me. I drifted off to sleep and waited until daylight to find my way home. When I walked in to the kitchen at about 10am my mother barely glanced up and said, ‘We knew you’d come back sometime’.

"My days out bush were magic times. I just allowed myself to follow wherever nature took me. I might notice a pair of birds building a nest and I would follow them back and forth watching the beauty of their collaboration until the miracle of their creation was complete. Another time I might focus on the fascinating activities taking place around a colony of ants. When the little creek was flowing after rain I would sit stone-still with my feet in the water, if it was warm enough, or lying on my tummy staring into the water if it was cold, and watch the little native fish and all the interesting bits and bobs washed down with the rain. Or I would see a wasp building a nest and wonder where the wasp got its mud, so I would follow it to see where it went and that would occupy an entire day."

This project is being run by Commonground Training Resources Inc. a registered charity. The team of volunteers shepherding this book to publication are doing so out of a love of Glen and a belief in the importance of her story. Glen Ochre has played an instrumental role in shifting lives through the frameworks she has developed in working with groups. The power of her wisdom and insight are undeniable and evident to all those who have participated in the programs she has developed.  This book is an essential extension of her work and continuing legacy.

If we raise $12,000

$1,500 for design and layout

$9,000 for printing of 1000 copies

$1,500 for book launch and documentary premiere

If we raise $15,000

$1,500 for design and layout

$9,000 for printing 1000 copies

$3,000 for book launch and documentary premiere

$1,500 towards professional editing and proofreading, Pozible video and postage costs.

If we raise $20,000

We will publish a limited run of Glen's book on the Community of Selves (Glen’s self-awareness model) in 2017.  In Glen’s last few years, she worked extensively on this book. It aims to substantiate the Community of Selves theory and provide a counter to popular corporate personality tests. While Glen wasn’t able to finalise this book, she has left her team at the Groupwork Institute equipped with a largely completed first draft and the understanding to bring it to fruition. Raising $20,000 will allow for design and layout and a limited print run in 2017.

If we raise $25,000

We can fund the completion of Glen's other manuscripts: a Facilitator’s Handbook and a book on collaborative management. In her last few years, Glen managed to largely complete four books! Most people weren't aware of this as Glen kept up her usual work at the Groupwork Institute and Commonground and wrote profusely during her 'holidays'. Raising $25,000 will fund the team at the Groupwork Institute to complete Glen's final two books and get them ready for future publication.

All future money raised from book sales will go back into Commonground, to continue its work resourcing disadvantaged groups and the social change sector.