By Susan Dunlop — Founder of Blue Borage, creator of the Blue Borage Conversation Café, Advisory Board Member at 5WAVES
At Blue Borage, when we’re planning our Conversation Cafe event series, we dig deep and then deeper again. The conversations must matter, they must be worth our precious time.
So I look at the full transcripts for each event, the chat.txt files, the reflective surveys, and draw out of those our plans for what we must deliver. Why? Because we are capable of doing so, it’s a joy to create, and to know we are doing someone so unique for people who have felt alone for far too long.
The clarity that emerged from Monday night’s open conversation, after the showcases were completed, touched on what people there were fiercely passionate about and what they’re against — silence, shame, disconnection.
Everyone was talking openly, truthfully about what we’d like to build together.
For the second half of 2025, across time zones and lived experiences, we’re calling in a new way of marching together towards the end of the year. If marching isn’t your word, replace it with skipping, stomping, grooving, dancing, whatever is your mode of momentum building movement!
From August to December, we have established our themes; many don’t bypass the hard stuff or package healing in a tidy bow. One thing I appreciate in survivors and concerned parents affected by SSTA within their family is that lived reality leaves us with pragmatism, wisdom, and more often than not a desire to work on what we do want, not focus on what we don’t want.
We’ve now finalised the August to December 2025 Conversation Café calendar
Each event is shaped with care, community wisdom, and a deep respect for what survivors and allies are carrying. Here’s what’s ahead:
⚖️ August – What Justice Might Look Like
Two guided roundtable Conversation Cafe events bringing together survivor, parent, practitioner and ally voices to explore what repair, justice and responsibility might look like in the context of sibling sexual trauma (SSTA).
- Wednesday 6 August | 9:00–10:30 AM AEST
- Monday 25 August | 5:30–7:00 PM AEST
🌿 September – Beyond Blame: Survivor and Parent Voices Together
A single, powerful Conversation Cafe event to ask questions, share insights, and honour the courage it takes to show up across roles and generations. In our planning for this roundtable of adult survivors and concerned parents, we are choosing to come to this round table with an open mind and heart to learn together. As we will hold this once in September, if the time doesn’t suit your schedule, it is very likely that this event will be repeated at the November Symposium (see below)
🌿 October – Who We Leave Behind, Who Moves Forward.
Forgiveness vs Reconciliation in Fractured Families
This tender conversation holds space for the complexity many of us feel around fractured family relationships especially as the stores begin to fill with Christmas decorations, trees and gatherings and gift planning can activate us. We’ll explore the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, and reflect on the courage it takes to set boundaries, break cycles, and choose peace (even if it’s not the version we once imagined).
🌎 November Symposium – Together Is Better.
A full-day international symposium spanning 12 hours to accommodate our global community. We’ll gather to explore what becomes possible when blame, guilt and shame are replaced with connection, courage, and clarity, through co-created sessions, roundtables and creative inquiry.
🐘 December – The Elephant in the Room
A gentle, honest end-of-year space. Rest, Reflection & Reconnection at Year’s End is for those navigating the complexity of holidays after trauma. We won’t pretend it’s all tinsel and joy — instead, we’ll sit beside the elephant in the room together, and honour how far we’ve come.
✨ Registrations will open shortly on Eventbrite and links will be added to the website.
If you’d like to sponsor a place for someone you know or even anonymously, or request a sponsored registration, these options will be available for the November Symposium. Healing belongs to all of us, not just those who can afford to attend.
With gratitude,
Susan