Sam (he/him)
Community Coordinator & ResidentWhat involves your work and responsibilities at Braziers Park?
I’m in the role of Community Coordinator. This means coordinating for the Braziers Park community (not with the surrounding community). In a nutshell, the work is about ensuring clear communication between the different areas (trustees, resident community, estate team, hospitality team, volunteers, maintenance, facilities, etc.) so that we are more or less pulling in the same direction in as joined-up a way as possible.
Could you share a special Braziers memory with us?
On their last day with us, someone in their 20s said with joy and appreciation how much their three months of volunteering here had helped them see that there was a radically different way of living, of being alongside people and of understanding what work is. They said their conventional notion of what success in a career looks like had taken a back seat to something much more alive and authentic for them.
Could you tell us about your work outside of Braziers?
Most of my time away from Braziers is spent as a student, training and working on my masters level diploma in Processwork. I work with individual clients, couples wanting to work on relationship issues and with organisations. I have a placement each week with a youth group for autistic people aged 18-25 in Oxford. With Processwork colleagues, I have run several workshops for the community here, looking deeper into some of the challenges and tensions inherent in community living. I’m a student with Oxford Zen Centre and hold one or two meditation retreats each year as part of Braziers’ Education programme.