Liberation
Club

Melbourne CBD Chapter

What is Liberation Club?

Liberation Club is a journalling and informal speaking group for anyone who feels that they need liberating from some oppressive cloud hanging over them. This may be:

  • a circumstance
  • a personality trait
  • a persistent negative mood or heavy feeling that wont go away
  • or a set of habits.

Liberation club is for when you cannot exactly name a problem, face a "wicked problem" that cannot be resolved, or feel trapped and restricted in life.

No situation is too trivial or serious, all are welcome. Liberation Club can help with stuck-ness, malaise, inertia and depression.

Photo of the torsos of four people at a wooden table with pens and paper, one standing
Photo of four people sitting around a coffee table in different chairs listening to another person on a lounge chair speaking
Photo of two people sitting in lounge chairs listening to another who is not pictured

Meetings

At weekly meetings in a cafe setting, members will have a chance to journal side by side for 30 minutes. Members bring their own journals and pens - you can use a hardcover journal, an exercise book, or a pad.

Journalling can take any form: list-making, diary entries, drawing, making word clouds, collage vision boards - whatever helps to express and define what you want to be liberated from, what you notice you are oppressed by, and what you would like to achieve or change.

Members are then allocated an equal amount of time each to speak aloud their thoughts to the group. Each member may start by stating their name and what feeling or situation brought them to the club, and then they may talk about their issues and speak to any plans they may have mused about or decided on to become liberated, or their progress towards - or changes to - any goals.

"I don't know where I'm trapped, but I feel trapped. There's nothing in my life that relaxes me. I feel cramped and stifled. I want to break free."

During these speaking periods, the rest of the group listens silently, without offering advice, without problem-solving, without judgement and without responding with their own thoughts to relate to what has been said. The speaking period allows each member to say aloud their thoughts, in an environment where they are listened to, without being challenged, argued with, helped, comforted or related to.

At the end of the speaking turns, the meeting is officially over. Members are invited to continue silent journalling if they wish before leaving.

Between meetings, members can journal as much as they want.

Sessions are held on Monday nights and Wednesday afternoons. Contact the coordinator for times and locations.

"Some days, I feel like I am (a little liberated). And some days, I feel like I'm back to square one. But I still feel I've been liberated, even just a little."

The Rules

The idea and format for Liberation Club comes from the fictitous club featured in the Netflix K-drama, "My Liberation Notes" (2022), also called "나의 해방일지"/"Naeui Haebangilji".

As stated in the K-drama, there are three tenets, "in order to take an honest look into our lives." They are:

The golden rule of Liberation Club is:

Do not give advice. Do not try to comfort.

Further rules and guidelines governing behaviour at meetings and privacy considerations.
  • Bring a journal or notebook to meetings, and your own writing tools. Paper and pens are not supplied.
  • Before the first meeting, think about what you are actually trying to liberate yourself from and note it down in your journal. This can change from meeting to meeting or day to day as you explore the topic or notice new thoughts. It can simply be a feeling of wrongness, if you are stuck for how to name your "thing". You will have time to think about it more during and between meetings.
  • Chatting is discouraged during silent journalling time. Some time for introductions and talking about the club will be included in each meeting, usually between journalling and between speaking turns.
  • Each member is allocated an equal amount of time to speak. During a member's speaking time, only the speaker may talk. Other members listen silently without offering advice, judgement, or speaking about their own situation to relate to what was just said. "Do not give advice. Do not try to comfort."
  • Speakers should keep to their allocated time regardless of whether they feel finished with speaking at the end of it, in order to ensure everyone receives equal speaking time.
  • All members are invited to talk about their feelings, observations and struggle in regards to their own liberation without commenting on or responding to any other member's speeches before theirs.
  • If a member cannot speak about their own liberation during a meeting due to stage fright or self-consciousness, they are invited to read something from their journal.
  • Members should retain a sense of personal privacy when speaking to the group and refrain from providing details that the speaker does not feel comfortable making public.
  • Journals will not be shared involuntarily and you will not be asked to "hand them in". They are for the member to record and reflect upon their own private thoughts and to use as a resource. Speaking aloud to the group is less private and so details and personal situations described in the journal should be abstracted when speaking to the group.
  • Liberation Club is not a trauma or addiction counselling service. Although these topics can be dealt with in Liberation Club, the club is not suitable for those who are unable to speak about their situations calmly enough to maintain a manner suitable to a cafe setting.
  • Swearing should be limited while speaking to respect other members and cafe patrons. The emotional intensity of any anger or distress expressed during speaking should be moderated to a level appropriate for a public setting.
  • Please avoid excessive displays of anger, grief or distress so as not to distress other club members and cafe patrons. The club is a self-introspection tool for finding personal solutions to oppressions, not a counselling service.
  • Group members should respect each other's privacy and treat each other with respect at all times.
  • The speaker should avoid making other group members feel intimidated or threatened by speaking about situations in which the group member causes or participates in violence.
  • Members should seek the group's permission to discuss situations and thoughts that have potential to traumatise other members - situations involving sexual assault, violence, or graphic descriptions of traumatic events. Please be understanding if a group member does not give consent. Be prepared to speak about such situations without describing details aloud.
  • It is permitted to form a friendship or relationship with another member of the club, and club members may chat outside of the structured context of meetings. However please do not approach another member to offer advice, comfort or reflection on their situation without being invited to. It is not the point of Liberation Club to meet friends and partners, or to receive advice or help.
  • Remember: the point of Liberation Club is not to solve problems or pass judgement, but to provide a setting to empower people to find their own solutions to their own situations in their own time, at their own pace, in their own way.
  • Topics of addiction and abuse may be explored in this format, although Liberation Club is not a solutions-offering or counselling service, and is not bound by any code of confidence (although we ask members to refrain from discussing each other's situations).
  • Participants are asked to respect others by not speaking aloud to the group about explicit details of traumatic events and by keeping their voice at a conversational level during their speaking turn. At all times speakers are reminded that they are speaking publicly in front of laypeople, and that details of illegal activity and deeply personal and private information should be spoken of in the abstract.
  • Liberation is not a religion, or a cult, or a group for organizing political resistance. It is not a counselling service or substitute for therapy. It is a tool for examining your own life and finding your own way through it in an accelerated and concentrated way, using journalling and sound-boarding - having your thoughts listened to silently so that you can hear them in a new way.
  • It is recommended not to join liberation club with a friend or partner, in order to be able to speak about your personal situation freely without those connected to it in the room. Two weekly meetings are available for partners or friends to attend separately and speak in front of different groups.

Contact

To join a meeting please email with your name and preferred meeting day (Monday night or Wednesday afternoon). The meeting coordinator will email back with the next meeting time and location.