Growth Uncut

“Burnout is not a personal failure” In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Dr Sinéad Meade, Lecturer in Applied Psychology and researcher specialising in prison officer wellbeing, occupational culture and relationships within correctional settings. Drawing on years of research with prison officers, Sinéad challenges us to think differently about burnout. Rather than asking wh...

Our prison staff are one of our greatest strengths. We cannot afford to take them for granted💡 In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Beverley Wall, Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, for a powerful conversation about leadership, prison culture and the future of correctional systems. Drawing on decades of leadership experience, Beverley reflects on the...

The best ideas emerge when every voice has a place at the table💡 In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Tamara Hoefer, CEO of Richtungswechsel and Champions Community partner. Over the past year, Sarah and Tamara have worked alongside prison leaders across Europe, building a community committed to strengthening leadership, transforming culture and creating justice systems wh...

"Any change needs the courage to rethink the things you have always done"💡 In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Steven Van De Steene to explore how technology, and particularly artificial intelligence, can help positively reshape the future of criminal justice. Rather than asking whether we should fear AI, Steven challenges us to ask a different question: How can...

"Courage is the antidote"💡 In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Noa from the RESCALED Movement to explore what it really takes to transform criminal justice. Together, they discuss RESCALED's vision of replacing large prisons with small-scale detention houses, where dignity, relationships and community become the foundation for rehabilitation and reintegratio...

"We're not taking away people's basic rights, their dignity, we're empowering them to be leaders in their own life. But you have to create the space to do so"💡 In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis speaks with Danielle McKinnon about the transformative power of emotionally-regulating environments, meaningful connection and the role that passion can play in changing...

What is hindering system change? Funding shortages? A lack of second chances? In this episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis speaks with Lady Val Corbett about community-led change, the power of connection and how the Corbett Network came to be. Rather than being a single organisation, the Corbett Network links multiple groups, such as women’s centres, probation services and charities, so they ca...

What if justice systems were designed not to punish, but to heal? In this powerful episode of Growth Uncut, Dr Sarah Lewis speaks with Denise Michelle Brend, a leading criminologist and pioneer in trauma-informed approaches across Canadian justice systems, about what it truly takes to transform environments shaped by harm into spaces of recovery, safety and human flourishing. Denise’s journey has...

What if the people who understand the justice system best are the ones who have lived through it? In this episode of Growth Uncut , Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Michael McCusker , Engagement and Advocacy Manager at The Turnaround Project in Belfast. Michael shares his personal journey from involvement in the justice system as a young man to becoming a leading advocate for lived experience leadershi...

What if no one had to leave prison alone? In this episode of Growth Uncut , Dr Sarah Lewis is joined by Sid Singh to introduce the Growth App, a bold Justice 2.0 innovation designed to transform the journey from prison to community. Born out of lived experience and years of work in criminal justice reform, the Growth App acts as a digital bridge between people leaving prison, charities and support...

In this conversation, Dr Sarah Lewis and Edit Törs explore the principles and practices of restorative justice, its challenges, and its connection to the evolving concept of Justice 2.0. They discuss the importance of dialogue, the need for a more humane criminal justice system, and the potential for restorative justice to address both individual and institutional harms. The conversation emphasize...

We invite Heather Whitehead, a former prison leader, to talk about how she wants to upgrade Justice. Heather discusses the challenges leaders face and why we need to change leadership culture, to grow our senior staff. To learn more about Justice 2.0 visit www.growtransformbelong.com To find out more information about Heather, follow her on Linkedin or visit her website- https://www.hwleadershipco...

Becky White talks with Sarah Lewis about the exciting work she is doing to support culture change from a 'victims' perspective. Focusing on authentic relationships, quality standards and providing a meaning voice for those impacted by the Justice System is the focus of this J2.0 Series. A great watch for those interested in how change from commissioner/government level can make a real diff...

Jamie Rogers and Dr Sarah Lewis thrash out the issue of staff training and how we can practically make the Criminal Justice System a learning culture. We have seven new professional development courses to support practitioners in working with people in the Criminal Justice System so please visit www.growtransformbelong.com We value any donations to help continue our podcast!

Yes we want to upgrade Justice but what are the things we want to let go of? Join Dr Sarah Lewis, Kam Stevens and Dan Reynolds as they discuss Justice 1.0, as part of a Linkedin Live event.

What are the top lessons we have learnt from training hundreds of Criminal justice professionals, internationally? We dive into this topic and talk about how we have integrated these lessons into our work, as we promote Justice 2.0, calling for an upgrade to Justice and an investment in people. Dan Reynolds and Kam Stevens join Dr Sarah Lewis in this session.

We held a linkedin Live event and wanted to share it with you. We discuss Justice 2.0 in a bit more detail and how you may be able to get involved. With Dr Lewis and Kam Stevens, we share our hopes and discuss some of the challenges we might face.

Justice 2.0 is a collective campaign to drive positive changes in the Criminal Justice System, calling for an upgrade to current thinking and acknowledging the need to raise awareness around Criminal Justice within our communities, so we can serve them effectively. It highlights the key ideas around the campaign, the rationale, the plan of action and some of the challenges.

Kam Stevens, Adam, Steve Farrell and Anita Dockley join Sarah Lewis to discuss our research in Hope in Probation. Alongside Jake Phillips, we delivered this project to uncover the state of play in our Probation Service around their experiences of hope. We wanted to consider how Probation can become more hopeful and capture the voices of staff and people on probation, in an authentic way. We discus...

The Hope in Probation Research Project was completed by; Professor Steve Farrell (University of Nottingham); Dr Jake Phillips (University of Sheffield Hallam);Dr Sarah Lewis, Kam Stevens and Adam from Penal Reform Solutions and Anita Dockley from Justice Futures. This podcast discusses the benefits of lived experience researches in this research and provides advice to other organisations who are p...

Justine Best works with us as a research consultant and shares with us her lived experience of care and how her works gives her hope, as she instils hope in others. If you want to find out more about our work please visit www.growtransformbelong.com or email us on info@growtransformbelong.com to connect with us and collaborate!

Carianne is one of my favourite people in the world and her role focuses on growing our staff, quality assurance and training. Carianne talks about her role, working with the team and discusses her preventative programme, which is currently being delivered in educational settings. If you want to know more about our work please visit www.growtransformbelong.com or www.penalreformsolutions.com and i...

This special episode features a discussion centred around our research for the Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms, which was launched by the the Howard League for Penal Reform.  Justine and I join Steven, from Betknowmore, to summarise and reflect on the findings from our report.  We talk about the recommendations and the way forward, as we work together to reduce harms in prison. Plea...

This episode discusses so much!  Belonging, hope, joy and the complete conviction Kam Stevens has for social action, impact and justice.  Not just for those in prison but for prison staff, who both deserve more support and care. 

This episode focuses on the role of faith and hope within penal reform, prisons and social action. As our newest member of the team, it was a great opportunity to get some reflections around us as an organisation. If you want to find out more about us please get in touch: sarah@penalreformsolutions.com or sid@growtransformbelong.com