What is Beyond These Walls?

Upon purchase, you will receive a confirmation email. This email will include a link to the simulation app & a unique access code, which will need to be distributed to all participants. You can only access the simulation the same number of times as your licenses purchased. One license is equal to one play, so do not enter in the access code until you are ready to enter the experience.

Yes! While one license does equal one play, each license does not run out until all the characters have been experienced. This gives an opportunity to those who work through the simulation faster than others to go on and experience another. We suggest that you allow about thirty minutes for each character experience in the digital version, and one hour for each character experience in the hybrid version.

The hybrid version is an immersive and interactive experience, with a Take Love facilitator running the simulation experience at your school, church, or business location. The participants are guided through both digital and interactive activities with a presentation and a debrief that allows for valuable insights into what disadvantage in Australia looks like, raising awareness.

The digital version is a more ‘DIY’ experience which can be completed independently without the interactive elements of the hybrid version; allowing you to design the program to suit your own objectives and timing. The digital version will take between 25 and 30 minutes, compared to 1-1.5 hours for the hybrid interactive version.

Unfortunately, the hybrid version is currently only available within Anglicare’s service areas including the Sydney Region, Blue Mountains, Illawarra, and Southern Highlands, Northern Inland and Norfolk Island.

Take Love is the youth and young adult initiative of Anglicare that seeks to engage the head, heart, and hands of individuals aged between 12 & 25 in service-learning and volunteer opportunities.

We would love to expand our capabilities in the future, but for now, we recommend the Beyond These Walls digital version to those that are interstate and elsewhere!

Upon your purchase of Beyond These Walls you will be provided with access to a page of related downloadable documents. These include activities such as the Food Budget Challenge and a reflection-based worksheet; experience enhancing elements such as a pre-developed & bible-based program (8 weeks), and a bible-lesson plan; and other additional resources, such as pre-prepared presentation slides, parent-permission forms, information booklets, marketing & promotional materials, and resources for more information on the themes captured within the experience.

If you choose to purchase the hybrid version, your Take Love representative will come resourced with a vast array of props, materials and other elements that will get participants up and moving throughout the experience.

Beyond These Walls is versatile and will be used across a wide range of various contexts and environments. We have developed these free additional resources for you to tailor the experience to your own unique needs. Feel free to use, or not use, whichever of the materials as you would like.

Absolutely! The characters represented in the simulation are designed to replicate the reality of what poverty within Australia looks like. The experience is aimed at helping you understand the nature of poverty by stepping into the lives of those who may look just like other among you. As you will learn, poverty is not unique to any age group, gender, or ethnicity; rather, it is apparent across all groups and contexts – often in ways you would not expect.

We highly recommend all individuals looking to understand and build empathy for those experiencing poverty to take this opportunity to step into the lives, making decisions on behalf of real Anglicare Sydney clientele.

Each of the individual characters that are portrayed in the simulation represent a real client of Anglicare that has been offered ongoing support. The characters have been thoughtfully and thoroughly developed with the expertise and insight of a vast number of relevant individuals, including support & care workers, counsellors, chaplains, financial counsellors, educators, and mental health professionals.

In the simulation, you will have the agency to choose which character you will journey with throughout the experience. The characters you will be introduced to are:

• Aaron
• Betty
• Diane

The stories and experiences of these characters have been graciously shared with us via their vulnerability and eagerness to raise awareness of poverty & disadvantage. To protect their privacy, their names have been changed – but their stories remain true. We hope that by getting to know our characters and taking a moment to walk in their shoes, that you build empathy for others; particularly as you are positioned to make decisions considering current circumstances, that otherwise won’t be normal to you.

Yes, please do be aware that the Beyond These Walls simulation does delve into elements that may be disturbing or triggering for some people. Present themes include:

• Domestic violence
• Abuse-related trauma
• Child Abuse
• Violence
• Crime
• Mental illness and suicide.
• Bullying
• Eating disorders
• Social isolation
• Homelessness
• Incarceration

If you are impacted by any of these themes, please chat with us to consider if the simulation is right for you.

If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au, call Lifeline (13 11 14) or the Kids Helpline (1800 551 800); and in the case of an emergency, call 000.

You will have the opportunity to experience all three characters under one licence. While one license does equal one play, each license does not run out until all the characters have been experienced. This gives you the chance to walk in the shoes of all the characters, allowing those who finish earlier, to experience the other characters too! If you wish to access the simulation again after experiencing all three characters, you will need to purchase more licenses.

Upon purchase you will receive an email with instructions on how to install the Take Love app to your device. We recommend that you do this for a simplified experience.

To download the app on an apple device: access the purchase confirmation email > app link > share > add to home screen / add to desktop.

A Take Love facilitator runs the interactive simulation experience at your school, church, or business location. This involves introductory activities, a presentation that gives key insights into the nature of disadvantage and poverty-related struggles for people in Australia. Our facilitator will also coordinate immersive activities alongside their digital experience that present each participant with the hands-on struggle facing their character.

Importantly, a facilitator also runs a debrief at the end which allows for participants to reflect upon what they have learnt, and to tie it all together!

The heart behind Beyond These Walls is to help us understand the concept of inequality, and to encourage you to serve those in need of support. We really encourage everyone to get involved in the life-changing work of Anglicare!

Take Love equips you to get out there, serving your own community so reach out to us so we can support you in this. Serving opportunities with us might look like volunteering in one of our warehouses or at a Mobile Community Pantry, running a food or clothing collection, or participating in a program such as Virtual Visiting which connects youths to some of our senior residents, developing empathy and compassion along the way. Find out more about volunteer opportunities here.

The characters represented in the simulation are designed to replicate the reality of what poverty within Australia looks like. The experience is aimed at helping participants understand the nature of poverty by stepping into the lives of those that may look just like others among you. As you will learn, poverty is not unique to any age group, gender, or ethnicity; rather, it is apparent across all groups and contexts – often in ways you would not expect.

We highly recommend all individuals looking to understand and build empathy for those experiencing poverty to take this opportunity to step into the lives, making decisions on behalf of real Anglicare Sydney clientele. While there are some tough themes that the characters face, it is up to your own discretion to decide whether this is right for your group.

Take Love is a youth initiative of Anglicare giving young people practical ways to serve their communities. Anglicare has many ways of serving people in need and many services that give support, guidance and opportunities for those who need it. Take Love fits into this by equipping you, schools, youth groups with practical ways to get involved in Anglicare’s life-changing work.

Take Love is here to partner with you, so that you can share the love of Jesus with those who need it in your own communities!