Episode description
Dr Susan Phoenix is an unconventional psychologist who has transformed profound personal loss into a lifelong mission to help others navigate grief and institutional betrayal.

On 2nd June 1994, Susan’s husband, Detective Superintendent Ian Phoenix of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was killed when RAF Chinook Zulu Delta 576 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. All 29 people on board died, including the majority of the UK’s senior Northern Ireland intelligence and counter-terrorism experts.

For 17 years, the two pilots were wrongly blamed for gross negligence whilst institutions protected their own reputations. Susan joined the fight to clear their names whilst navigating her own devastating grief. The verdict was eventually overturned, but 31 years later, fundamental questions remain unanswered because the UK Government has sealed the official files for 100 years.

Susan is the author of ‘Out of the shadows: a journey from grief’ and worked with journalist Jack Holland to tell Ian’s story in ‘Phoenix: policing the shadows’ - now available as an audiobook narrated by her son, Niven. She uses her expertise as a psychologist and her lived experience of institutional betrayal to help others fighting for truth whilst grieving profound loss.

Content warning
This episode discusses death, bereavement, military crashes, institutional cover-ups, gaslighting, and the long-term psychological impact of unresolved grief and institutional betrayal. Please take care whilst listening.

Key quotes
“The coffins were closed. That was the biggest thing to me… I had been a military nurse, I had seen bodies, I had seen all kinds of things, and I remember begging and saying, look, it’s just a piece of skin, I need to see it”

“They threw those boys under the bus. They were scapegoated and they kept that going for a long time. 17 years. The families of the pilots fought for 17 years to clear their son’s names to protect somebody’s reputation”

“I was gaslit by many people across many agencies… people would say, well, you know, Susan, don’t make a fuss because the other widows, they wouldn’t like it”

“I do know the Ministry of Defence are waiting for us older widows to die off. Of course they were, it made sense. The fact they have now closed the documents for 100 years”

“It’s not just a historical issue, it’s about transparency, accountability and justice for the 29 people and their families who died as a result of someone choosing the wrong, un-airworthy aircraft”

“The danger, the arrogance that they can allow our young servicemen and women just to be the old fashioned cannon fodder. Nobody cares… This is wrong. And that’s what’s kept me going for 31 years”

“Sealing files for 100 years isn’t accountability – it’s institutional cover-up at its most extreme”

Contact
Follow @addresstheharm on social media
Visit addresstheharm.org
Email: press@addresstheharm.org

For ALL Chinook media enquiries, contact: tim@timreidmedia.com

Take action
Support our crowdfunding campaign at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/addresstheharm
Share this episode to amplify survivors' voices
Support the Chinook Justice Campaign and sign their petition demanding the files be unsealed https://www.chinookjusticecampaign.co.uk/
Download the white paper at www.addresstheharm.org

Address The Harm®️is hosted by Leah Brown FRSA, founder of The WayFinders Group and architect of the Coalition for Institutional Accountability.

Copyright 2025, production copyright Leah Talks Ltd. All rights reserved.

Episode description

Helen experienced institutional harm across multiple sectors - NHS healthcare, social care, safeguarding services, and employment systems. Her journey through every agency, regulator and ombudsman reveals the devastating pattern of institutional self-investigation that re-traumatises survivors whilst protecting organisational reputation.

With unique insights from experiencing these systems from both sides - as someone seeking help and as an NHS employee - Helen shares how institutions defaulted to "deny, attack, reverse victim and offender" rather than correct avoidable errors. She was recently part of London Safeguarding Voices, a survivor-led group that provided crucial input to statutory services until funding was cut, silencing these essential voices.

Fifteen years on from avoidable NHS errors in 2009, Helen is still fighting for her care to be put right.

Content warning

This episode discusses childhood abuse, trauma, medical negligence, institutional failure, discrimination, employment tribunal experiences, and the systematic failure of safeguarding systems. Please take care whilst listening.

Key quotes

"Everyone suspected and realised that there was harm and danger in my home but no one added that picture together across all the agencies"

"The same organisations that ought to have protected me as a child were now failing me as an adult"

"I categorically knew that I was taking the dose that I was taking and that the GP had got it wrong... but the PHSO was so strongly wanting to be on the side of the GP who'd made the mistake that they were trying to gaslight me"

"It seems madness that the same people who are responsible for doing the harms are the same people the system puts back in charge of correcting those harms"

"Unfortunately we're in a position where we can't trust our NHS anymore"

"The public live in a society that's broadly fair, just and civil to each other, where we respect each other as human beings and this often isn't our experience in the public sector or the system"

Contact

Follow @addresstheharm on social media
Visit addresstheharm.org
Email: press@addresstheharm.org

Take action

• Support our crowdfunding campaign at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/addresstheharm
• Share this episode to amplify survivors' voices
• Download the white paper at www.addresstheharm.org

Address the Harm is hosted by Leah Brown FRSA, founder of The WayFinders Group and architect of the Coalition for Institutional Accountability.

Copyright 2025, production copyright Leah Talks Ltd. All rights reserved.

Episode description

Issy Vine is a former Metropolitan Police 999 call handler turned campaigner for institutional accountability and violence against women and girls prevention. After five years working in the Met, Issy left the force following experiences of workplace misogyny and harassment that were inadequately addressed by institutional processes.

She reported a colleague for racist, misogynistic comments and following her home—he was dismissed for gross misconduct at Scotland Yard, then rehired four months later when the appeal chair deemed dismissal "too harsh" and also claimed the VAWG campaign and Casey Review had too much influence on misconduct panels. When Issy escalated her concerns, her report was hidden for five months.

Of the Coalition’s four pillars (acknowledgement, apology, accountability, amends), Issy prioritises acknowledgement and apology which institutions resist because it means admitting failure. She argues that politicians cannot claim to care about ending violence against women and girls whilst enabling it within the very institutions meant to tackle it.

Content warning
This episode discusses violence, abuse, workplace harassment, and suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

Key quotes
"The colleague that I reported who said the most horrific things and escalated and followed me after work was just allowed to carry on taking reports and stuff for the whole time he was under investigation. And I just think that's really gross."

"No one should be able to mark their own homework."

"If you really want to end violence against women and girls, you need to really, really focus on policing first."

"I just want you to acknowledge what you've done and I just want you to apologise for what you've done and acknowledge what you put me through when all I did was just sign up to work for you to help."

"The force operates on gaslighting tactics. They are very silent, so they make you wait and wait and wait so you just feel like you don't get responses for ages."

Contact
Email: press@addresstheharm.org
Instagram / TikTok / X @addresstheharm
Website: www.addresstheharm.org

Take action
Support our crowdfund
Hosted by: Leah Brown FRSA (@leahtalks_)
Production: Leah Talks Ltd © 2025