The CCR training has finished but the ripples continue

After 18 months of training across the Northern Rivers, we’ve now completed this phase of our Community Carers and Responders (CCR) program, delivered with the generous support of Healthy North Coast.

Across the program, 167 people from 13 communities took part, with more than 20 community projects recorded along the way. But as we’ve reached the end of the formal training, we’ve been thinking about a bigger question: what happens after people leave the room?

So we went looking for the ripples.

Through conversations, emails, surveys and five reflective gatherings with CCR participants, we heard stories of people making their homes more prepared, setting up radios and communication networks, sharing knowledge with neighbours, strengthening local resilience groups, building relationships with emergency services, starting community projects and simply feeling more confident about the role they could play.

One message came through particularly strongly: relationships are part of our resilience infrastructure. Batteries, radios, generators and emergency plans matter, but so do trust, belonging, local knowledge and knowing who you can call on when something goes wrong.

We’ve already captured more than 50 ripples, and we know there will be many more that we never hear about. We’re bringing these stories and learnings together now and look forward to sharing the full CCR Ripple Report in the coming months.

The formal training may have finished, but the ripples are still spreading.