Neighbourly is a warm, story-driven podcast hosted by Shannon Steeves. Every two weeks, Shannon sits down with a guest to share honest stories of ordinary people offering extraordinary care. Each episode also includes a short Neighbourly Headlines reflection, highlighting a Canadian story of neighbours showing up in meaningful ways. You’ll leave encouraged, grounded, and equipped with one simple step you can carry into your own life.
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60 recent
August 5, 20265 min
Summer Speedos | Field Notes: The Secret Cost of Rushing
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionThe story is simple: a group moving at the speed of its slowest member, stopping for rocks and untied shoes. What emerges is a quiet meditation on pace, noticing, and the dignity of waiting for each other — at home, in church, in the neighbourhood.Care rarely fits a schedule, and sometimes loving well means adjusting our plans. In this conversation, Johan Heinrichs wonders who might be getting left behind by the pace we keep, and invites us to notice where care is happening at a slower speed.Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
July 22, 20264 min
Summer Speedos | Field Notes: Trash Bins
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionSummer Speedos is Neighbourly’s short in-between-season series while Shannon takes a break from regular interviews. Hosted by producer Johan Heinrichs, these episodes mix outdoor field notes and story-driven reflections that help us notice the ordinary ways care, faith, courage, and community show up around us.Sometimes loving your neighbour looks like a deep conversation. Other times, it looks like picking up a bin, pulling recycling back from the curb, bringing in a package before the rain, or sending the classic suburban warning text: “Hey, your garage door is open.”This short episode is a reminder that care does not always need to be big to be meaningful. Often, it starts with noticing a small burden and making someone’s day a little lighter.Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
July 8, 20265 min
Summer Speedos | Field Notes: Long Grass
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionSummer Speedos is Neighbourly’s short in-between-season series while Shannon takes a break from regular interviews. Hosted by producer Johan Heinrichs, these episodes mix outdoor field notes and story-driven reflections that help us notice the ordinary ways care, faith, courage, and community show up around us.What story do we tell ourselves about someone else’s messy yard—or their messy day?Johan Heinrichs shares a simple encounter with long grass, and how quickly curiosity can give way to quiet judgment. As questions linger, this story sits with that unsettled space between what we see and what we don’t know, where care and dignity begin to take root.Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
June 24, 20268 min
Summer Speedos | History Field Notes: Endurance
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionSummer Speedos is Neighbourly’s short in-between-season series while Shannon takes a break from regular interviews. Hosted by producer Johan Heinrichs, these episodes mix outdoor field notes and story-driven reflections that help us notice the ordinary ways care, faith, courage, and community show up around us.In this Story Field Note, Johan takes us into the frozen world of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition, a journey that did not unfold the way anyone expected.What happens when the plan changes, the way forward disappears, and the only thing left to do is keep going?This episode reflects on endurance as more than survival. It is about courage, community, and the steady kind of care that helps people hold on when life becomes uncertain.Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
June 10, 20265 min
Summer Speedos | Field Notes: Empty Chair
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionSummer Speedos is Neighbourly’s short in-between-season series while Shannon takes a break from regular interviews. Hosted by producer Johan Heinrichs, these episodes mix outdoor field notes and story-driven reflections that help us notice the ordinary ways care, faith, courage, and community show up around us.In this first field note, Johan reflects on an empty chair he notices while walking through the neighbourhood. It may mean nothing, but it also raises a gentle question: who used to be part of our rhythm, and now seems to have quietly disappeared?This episode is an invitation to notice the people who have gone quiet, stepped back, or faded from view, not with suspicion, but with care. Sometimes a simple check-in can remind someone that their absence was noticed and their presence still matters.One Small StepThink of one person who has been less present lately, then send a simple, no-pressure message to let them know they are noticed and not forgotten.Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
May 27, 202634 min
Curious Instead of Furious | With Alicia Freeman
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateCurious Instead of Furious: Creating Safety in Overwhelming MomentsWhat does it look like to care for someone well when their emotions feel bigger than the moment?In this episode of Neighbourly, Shannon sits down with Alicia Freeman, a CareImpact trainer whose journey through foster care, adoption, and trauma-informed learning has shaped the way she understands safety, presence, and compassion.Alicia shares why trauma care is not only for foster and adoptive families, but for everyone, everywhere, especially those who want to care well in their homes, churches, and communities.Together, Shannon and Alicia talk about what it means to stay curious instead of furious, how to respond when someone is overwhelmed, and why sometimes the most loving thing we can offer is not a solution, but our steady presence.In this conversation, Alicia reflects on a recent training at a pregnancy resource centre, where a moment of disagreement became a deeper opportunity for listening, humility, and shared learning. She also offers practical ways to help children, youth, and adults feel safer when they are dysregulated or overwhelmed.This episode is a gentle reminder that care does not have to be perfect to be powerful. It just has to be present.In This EpisodeWhy trauma-informed care matters beyond foster and adoptive familiesHow curiosity helps us move from defensiveness to empathyWhat it means to create emotional safety in a roomWhy the urge to fix can get in the way of true carePractical ways to support someone who is overwhelmedHow churches can care well without rushing people toward easy answersWhy presence, patience, and dignity matter in the messy middleA Small Step This WeekThink of one person in your life who may be carrying more than you can see.Before offering advice, try starting with curiosity. Ask a gentle question. Listen a little longer. Resist the urge to fix it too quickly.Sometimes the most neighbourly thing we can offer is simply to stay present.Time Stamps04:17 Starting foster care and adoption journey07:41 Training at the Pregnancy Resource Center10:57 Navigating overwhelming emotions workshop14:25 Staying confident and calm during discussions17:27 Helping people find their personal why23:13 Importance of Curiosity and Empathy27:16 The power of just being present29:43 Role of Church in Trauma CareGuest Linkscareimpact.ca/aliciaOther LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
May 13, 202631 min
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionWhat happens when the story we tell ourselves about someone keeps us from seeing the person in front of us?In this reflective episode of Neighbourly, Johan and Shannon step back from the regular guest interviews to talk about assumptions, the quick judgments we make, and the stories we build about people before we really know them.Together, they explore how easy it is to reduce someone to one moment, one behaviour, one request, or one struggle, and how neighbourly care invites us to slow down, stay curious, and protect dignity. From parenting moments in public, to CarePortal requests, homelessness, school experiences, and the story of Zacchaeus, this conversation gently reminds us that there is almost always more going on beneath the surface.This episode is not about ignoring harm or pretending everything is fine. It is about learning to ask better questions before our assumptions become labels.This week’s simple step:When you notice yourself forming an assumption about someone, pause and ask, “What might I not know?”Time Stamps01:35 CareCreatives Company04:37 Struggling with small talk09:23 Practicing self-awareness and empathy12:50 Understanding community assumptions and needs14:25 Understanding homelessness complexities16:58 Discussing the damage of assumptions21:05 Biblical examples of looking beyond labels23:58 Reflecting on Zacchaeus story28:46 Being a good neighbourOther LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
April 29, 202628 min
Making Generosity Part of Everyday Life | Tammy Kyte
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionWhat if generosity wasn’t something you reacted to… but something you actually built into your life?In this episode, Shannon sits down with Tammy Kyte, one of the people behind GiveWise, a platform designed to make giving simpler and more consistent. But this conversation goes beyond tools and systems.Tammy shares how her journey from building homes to building a giving platform was shaped by a deeper question, how do we make generosity part of everyday life, especially when life feels busy, unpredictable, and full?Together, they explore the tension many of us feel, wanting to give, but struggling to do it consistently. From the realities of fluctuating income to the challenge of staying organized, this conversation offers a grounded and practical look at what it means to live generously.You’ll also hear how small, consistent acts of giving can shape not just communities, but our own hearts. Because generosity isn’t just about what we give, it’s about who we’re becoming.Time Stamps04:20 Balancing family life and business07:01 Incorporating generosity into daily life11:21 Setting aside money for charity13:50 Managing a charitable fund18:38 Learning generosity from family20:30 Family account money transfers23:33 Making intentional financial decisionsGuest LinksGiveWise: https://www.givewise.ca/Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
April 15, 202629 min
The Village We All Need | Deb Richards
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionWhat happens when dreaming feels out of reach because daily life is so heavy?This conversation sits with the steady, sometimes invisible work of walking alongside young parents who carry more than meets the eye. Their stories invite us to pay attention to the small gestures that build real community—the quiet courage to trust, to stay, and to share even when nothing feels easy.Time Stamps03:45 Starting a teen moms program09:12 Moms supporting each other10:07 Building and relying on community13:36 Learning to build trust19:39 The importance of choice and dignity22:14 Supporting new moms and babies25:25 Giving and receiving in communityGuest Linkshttps://yfc.ca/winnipeg/program/young-parents/Other LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
April 1, 202633 min
The Way Care Changes Us
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!https://careimpact.ca/donateDescriptionHow do you respond when your offer of care goes unreturned, and you’re left waiting with more questions than answers?This story invites us to consider what’s happening beneath the surface—both in ourselves and in those we hope to help. Through honest moments and unexpected pauses, a simple act of care reveals how seeing one another can change us, even when things don’t go as planned.Time Stamps05:48 Made for connection and community08:56 Dropping off car seat and stroller11:26 Learning compassion through perspective15:31 Connecting a dad with neighbours17:54 Building cross-sector partnerships22:35 Building relationships through consistent care24:33 Helping a mom in need28:21 Encouraging churches to care locallyOther LinksJoin The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.caEmail: podcast@careimpact.caAbout the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportalDONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
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