Welcome to the final podcast of series 1 of Taking Action. I will now be 'taking stock" and "taking a break" instead. the podcast will definitely be back, maybe with a renewed focus, format and frequency. Please look out for a return in mid-February. In the meantime, please check out previous episodes on Buzzsprout, Apple and Spotify.

I had no doubt about how I wanted to finish off this first season and that was with a look back at this year, both through the podcast and the wider set of actions to mark the 20 year anniversary of Scotland's ACEs Journey. I also wanted this too be a forward looking episode and I think we have achieved both goals.

This is a relaxed and wide ranging conversation which rounds off the series as I would want it to. It is filled with hope.

If you wan t know more about what has been happening in Scotland over the last 20 years, here are some useful links

For the graphic film telling the story of Scotland’s ACES Journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hik0_sfbF6I

For the booklet telling the story of Scotland’s ACEs Journey:

https://connectedbaby.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ACEs-Journey-book-screen-190625.pdf

For an even deeper dive into Scotland’s ACEs Journey:

https://connectedbaby.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ACEs-Journey-info-June-25-2025.pdf

For the 2023 paper by Zeedyk & Partridge tracing the ACEs history: https://connectedbaby.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ACEs-Journey-Article-.pdf

For a video of the Gala Day held in June 2025:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbP5ZbyMCBE

We will also be releasing a graphic image showing the range of people involved in the podcast. It is a powerful illustration of the diversity of sectors, organisations and individuals who are working to make Scotland a more just, compassionate and equitable country .

Look out for that on Linkedin, Bluesky and X

This is an episode which I have been longing to record. John Carnochan and Karyn McCluskey are, for me, towering figures in Scotland's ACEs movement. They were founding members of the groundbreaking Violence Reduction Unit established within the Strathclyde Police Force (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_Reduction_Unit). They would both give credit to others for the building of that unit and they do that on the podcast, but they were instrumental in its success. Both are charismatic, clear-sighted, pragmatic and principled. They helped to change the culture of policing in, what was then, Strathclyde Region and influenced change far beyond that.

They tackled what was then an appalling climate of violence in Scotland and had the courage to turn their backs on the standard remedy of more police, harsher punishments and a massive increase in the prison population. They recognised that "prevention" and "deterrence" were not synonyms and were prepared to tackle the causes of crime.

They saw the importance of improving public services, memorably calling for more health visitors rather than more police officers. They listened to victims and to perpetrators and drew widely on data and research and they had an impact.

They are both wonderful communicators with the ability to generate stunning phrases and aphorisms at the drop of a proverbial hat. They understood, and understand, the power of stories and used that relentlessly to engage, motivate and inspire others.

Above all they brought, and bring, an intense humanity to all that they do. They are as far from the caricature of "bleeding-heart liberals" or "woke warriors" as it possible to be, but they are unafraid to argue with John Major's assertion that we need to"condemn a little more and understand a little less". They are clear that, regardless of how we deal with crime and criminals, we will change little without understanding, curiosity and a willingness to learn.

Remarkably, they not only manage to illustrate all of these points in this episode, they also help us to reflect on the ACEs movement more generally and the lessons that we need to learn.

It is an episode worth learning from

For anyone interested in finding out more about the VRU, here are a number of links

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/25/scottish-violence-reduction-unit-radical-change

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhFDsONaA5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjvqUWl4lkA

This episode really moves us into the final phase of this series of "Taking Action" - (look out for an announcement about future plans soon). We are going to be "looking in" with Warren Larkin to see how Scotland looks from an external perspective. We are then going to look back with John Carnochan and Karyn McCluskey, before we look forward with the return of Suzanne Zeedyk

Warren Larkin is remarkable. As I describe him in the programme, he is a Renaissance Man of the ACEs movement. You will get details on him from his website

https://warrenlarkinassociates.co.uk/ and it is impressive

His own education story is fascinating = https://warrenlarkinassociates.co.uk/2018/01/08/about-warren-larkin/

During Covid, Warren headed up a Resilience Task Force to try to mitigate long-term impacts. Here is a link to one of those videos in 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzYr39Cwobg

He is particularly well known for his work promoting Routine Enquiry about Adversity in Childhood - the REACh model. He talks about this in his podcast.
https://warrenlarkinassociates.co.uk/portfolio-items/routine-enquiry-about-adversity-in-childhood-reach-programme/


Here is the work he is doing to build trauma-sensitive schools now:
https://warrenlarkinassociates.co.uk/portfolio-items/trauma-sensitive-schools/


He is a lead partner in a project working in schools to help them develop an understanding of trauma informed practice. Again, he talks about this in his podcast.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/home-office-and-yef-fund-5-8m-trauma-informed-practice-research/

That pedigree and his wide experience make him a perfect guest to offer an external perspective on the ACEs movement in Scotland. He delivers that with passion, humour, insight and depth. I know I always say this, but I always mean it, this episode is worth your time!