I am delighted by this episode for all sorts of reasons.

Ciara Burke is a joy to talk with. She is effervescent, full of enthusiasm and generosity. I felt energised simply by hearing her. She also has a great story to tell. What Midlothian are doing as a Council, based on their understanding of the impact of poverty, of disadvantage and of disruption on the lives of too many of the people who live there is remarkable. Ciara, along with colleagues and elected members, is trying to ensure a consistent culture across the Council. Together they want to ensure that the 6 principles of trauma-informed practice - safety, collaboration, trustworthiness, cultural consideration, choice and empowerment - are embedded in the way that everyone working in the Council goes about their work. That commitment extends to Councillors as well.

They want service responses to be consistent and predictable.

They also want to make sure that these are working principles, ensuring that services are designed with communities and that they respond collaboratively to the needs of individuals, families and communities.

My final reason for being delighted is that this episode closes a gap in the series. It shows that it is not just individuals and voluntary organisations who are taking action. We need action at Local Authority and government level alongside these other contributions and it is wonderful to see such a great example of this happening. It is also good to hear Ciara giving credit to Scottish Government for its commitment to training, funding and support.

I think there are valuable lessons here for all of us and it is a superb reminder of the principles that we need to uphold if we are serious about becoming a compassionate, understand, trauma-aware nation.

This is another instance where the quality of the recording does not match up to the quality of the content. Thomas Seisay is a wonderful example to all of us.

He and his husband adopted two children who had both been in the care system. That marks them out as caring, committed and compassionate even if they had not done anything else, but they have done so much more. They saw the challenges that their son faced and then their daughter and did all that they could as parents to support them. They then felt that was not enough. If their children, emerging from the care system, needed more love, more care and more opportunities, other young people from the same sort of circumstances would need that too. They asked themselves the question "what can we do, not just for our family, but for others?"

The answer was to establish Haus of Seisay. It's a charity providing training through SQA and SVQ courses in hairdressing for looked after young people. They already ran a salon and provided training through that, but they made the commitment to concentrate that on those who needed it most. You can read the story on their website here https://hausofseisay.org/home.

Thomas has been told that the "business model" wouldn't work, but, in the words of the great American writer James Baldwin, 'Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it." Thomas was doing the interrupting!

The model is working and is generating amazing successes. Young people are blossoming through getting the right sort of support. Haus of Seisay offers so much more than vocational training. They work on confidence, wellbeing, employability and, above all, they put the young person at the centre and tailor whatever they do to their needs..

Please check Haus of Seisay out on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/hausofseisay/ or on X https://x.com/hoshairdressingor look them up on Linkedin and think about supporting them. Thomas is a classic example of "do what you can, and use what you have". He and his colleagues have done that and a lot of young people are benefitting from it

I hope that the title for this episode got your attention. It was difficult to know what to call it, but it was delight to be part of it! Essentially, it is me trying to interview Angela Gardner from St John the Baptist Primary School in Fauldhouse - and not Falkirk as I suggest - Eileen Brennan, from Our Lady of Lourdes in Blackburn, West Lothian and Frances Burns from St Joseph's in Whitburn. In reality, it is like herding budgies with me trying to keep up as three fabulous headteachers interact, interrupt and tell a wonderful story of schools who are genuinely countering disadvantage. I should also mention Eileen's watch which keeps making unscheduled guest appearances!!

All three heads are enthusiastic, joyful, resolutely positive and always constructive.

They have done a massive amount in their schools from changing culture and policy around behaviour to establishing professional supervision for staff. They speak about all of that with great modesty and are very quick to give credit to each other and to those who have informed, inspired and motivated them, notably Dr Jenny Nock, from Jenny Nock Training and Consultancy whose Attachment and Trauma Sensitive Schools Award really encouraged them and Dr Suzanne Zeedyk who will be well known to listeners to this podcast. They recognise Suzanne's contribution to beginning their efforts to improve their schools and communities and her ongoing support.

They are too modest. All three have been brave, creative and imaginative. They have taken bold decisions and I am delighted by he success that has brought and the recognition that they have already received.

This may sound like an "education episode" but it reaches beyond any defined audience and underscores the message that the three heads give - make small changes, do what you think is right and be prepared to learn from mistakes.