Neil’s formative years were framed by a radical-conservative faith-based extended family, leading him to participate in small-scale debates between diverse faith groups and libertarian communists at university.

He played a key role in establishing and guiding a small network of student community houses, which grew to be a hub of hope, healing, and recovery for many trauma-impacted young people.

One key aspect of their common life was daily and weekly gatherings, where passionate discussions, debates, and prayer explored historical models of personal, social, and political transformation, especially during the tumultuous 1970s marked by global upheavals.

This community and truth scenario became a template for Neil’s life’s journey.

Over the next 17 years, Neil taught at schools, starting in rural Queensland and later at a boarding school in the mountains of South India. During this time, he also helped establish therapeutic communities in North India, including New Delhi’s Sahara House and related urban and rural sites, working with people battling diverse addictive behaviours in the face of relentless injustice and oppression.

Having married into a Chinese Malaysian family, Neil maintains contact with leaders within those communities and others throughout Asia.

In Australia, over the past 30 years in South-East Queensland, Neil has worked alongside Indigenous or Goori families and local communities in various contexts, from formal schooling to participatory community development. His work has included planning, implementing, and evaluating processes and structures such as Local Justice Initiatives, Community Justice, Alternative Governing Structures, and longer-term initiatives.

Neil’s passion now is to come alongside your team, challenging and supporting you in your journey, to cultivate collective hopes, regenerate integrity, and sustain transformative rhythms.

In his diverse community work, Neil tends to be unassuming, quietly working behind the scenes. However, as a public speaker or workshop leader, his passionate presentations have provoked deeper thought and sharing amongst participants in seven countries. He has presented aspects of Indigenous community development, for example, to global academic conferences, as well as engaging with marginalised village groups, schools, faith-based audiences, and NGOs, tailoring his presentations to a diverse range of participants.