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Join Dr Lisa Cherry in conversation with Dr Jo Taylor as they explore liminality as a human constant and argue why compassion is not optional when lives sit between identities, roles and outcomes. From school supervision rooms to street-level tensions, we share tools to widen safety, practise care and make change sustainable.

You can find Jo and learn more about his work on LinkedIn

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Learn more about Lisa here:
www.lisacherry.co.uk

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Join Dr Lisa Cherry in conversation with Geraldine Costello, Director of Governance and Safe Sport at British Gymnastics, where we look at the liminal space between work cultures; the police and gymnastics. What happens when a career built on command and certainty collides with a mission that depends on trust, listening and repair? We explore how safeguarding shifts from policy to lived practice when survivors are heard and institutions choose to change.

Geraldine traces her path from the police cadets to child protection and multi-agency hubs, where she discovered that careful interviewing, cross-sector teamwork, and dignity-centred practice could change lives. She unpacks the contradictions of tackling domestic abuse and safeguarding in a culture still wrestling with misogyny and the allies and mentors who helped her stand firm. Then we follow her leap into youth guiding and sport, where volunteers, community and equity reshape how influence works. No badges. No warrants. Just persuasion, clarity and relationships that make safety possible.

Inside British Gymnastics, a newly created safe sport role emerged in the wake of the White Review and a surge of testimonies. Geraldine explains how governance, complaint handling and trauma-informed processes are being rebuilt to protect athletes, support coaches and clubs and restore trust through transparency and consistent apology.

She shares the personal scaffolding behind resilience, counselling, coaching, reflection, and how leaders can navigate the long middle of change without losing heart.

If you value thoughtful leadership, safe sport and trauma-informed practice, this conversation offers a grounded playbook for culture change. Subscribe, share with a colleague who works in safeguarding or youth sport and leave a review to tell us what resonated most.

You can connect with Geraldine on LinkedIn here: www.linkedin.com/in/geraldinecostello

Support the show

Thank you for listening! Please share and subscribe the practice wisdom in this episode and create social change, one connection at a time. If you're feeling it, then leave a comment too!

Learn more about Lisa here:
www.lisacherry.co.uk

Buy Books Here.

Connect on Linkedin, BlueSky and Instagram and Substack by searching for Dr Lisa Cherry

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Continuing the exploration of liminality, join Dr Lisa Cherry in conversation with Tracey Smith, who taught for many years in primary schools in Oxfordshire. She was Headteacher for Bladon, Tower Hill and New Marston Primary Schools in Oxfordshire, before becoming Head of Primary Teacher Training at the University of Buckingham. Tracey returned to Headship as Executive Headteacher of two Faringdon Primary Schools before continuing working with teacher training and supervision at the University of Buckingham. Tracey is also a trainer and consultant for Values-based Education and is in the process of completing her EdD entitled 'Working-Class Teachers and the Issue of Belonging in a Middle-Class Profession'. She has co-authored a book on Teacher Training with Barnaby Lenon (Hachette) and is writing her second book entitled: A Framework for Values-Based Education: From Vision to Practice (Emerald Publishing)

In this conversation, Lisa and Tracey explore how liminal transitions shape teacher identity, belonging and retention, with a focus on working class teachers navigating middle class norms. Stories, theory and practical steps show how mentoring, culture and values-based leadership turn the uncertainty times of a liminal space into growth.

Topics covered include:

• Defining liminality and communitas in schools
• Class, accent and identity pressures in early career
• Values-based leadership, psychological safety and agency
• Reading culture through staff room signals and tacit rules
• Representation as aspiration for pupils and teachers
• Gramsci, Hall and the theory behind belonging
• Practical rituals that build shared trust and ease transitions
• Leadership attention to staff wellbeing as a lever for outcomes

You can connect with Tracey on LinkedIn HERE.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! Please share and subscribe the practice wisdom in this episode and create social change, one connection at a time. If you're feeling it, then leave a comment too!

Learn more about Lisa here:
www.lisacherry.co.uk

Buy Books Here.

Connect on Linkedin, BlueSky and Instagram and Substack by searching for Dr Lisa Cherry