all inclusive solutions

In this episode, we speak with Fiona Mahoney, founder of Reminiscence Learning, to explore the power of intergenerational influence and inclusive learning.

Fiona shares how “It’s so important that we just accept everybody for who they are… we shouldn’t be prescriptive in life.”

Fiona reflects on her early life experiences growing up across the UK and how her grandparents played a key role in shaping her...

In this episode, Carol Sargent and Tom speak with Professor Lynne Corner, a leading voice in ageing innovation and deputy director of the UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA). 

Lynne describes how “Healthy ageing isn’t just about adding years to life – it’s about creating the conditions for people to live well for longer.”

Lynne shares how early experiences with her grandparents inspired ...

The Social Care Future movement, born of frustration, is powered by hope and putting power into people’s hands. 

Our guest today is Neil Crowther, who joins us to talk about social care solutions. After a varied career in social care and disability rights, Neil founded the #SocialCareFuture movement in 2018.

“Focus your energy on trying to do what you can within the existing limitations and draw on the stories within...

Our guest today is Tracey Jane Redwood, who is a grief counsellor. Tracey Jane starts by talking about growing up with parents who were always interested in people, particularly her father. You can hear her passion when she talks about him, and when she herself talks about interacting with people – she is clearly a people person.

After leaving school, Tracey Jane went to college where she studied for a City and Guilds in commu...

Today we have two guests on our podcast – Kelly Brougham and Amy Swan, the co-founders of Active Families North East.

Kelly and Amy share similar values around community resilience, and the importance of supporting each other along with access for everyone to physical activity, so it’s easy to see why they founded a Community Interest Company together.

Their first careers were different, but it is their shared passion of ...

Today our podcast guest is Stefan Thomas and we speak about how he lives with Ulcerative colitis and why he is on a mission to break down the barriers about speaking about the “embarrassing stuff”  

Having been diagnosed at the age of 27, Stefan shares what it’s like to live with a condition that can, during a flare-up, require him to go to the toilet between 20 and 50 times a day, and also deal with occasiona...

Our podcast visitor today is Debbie Gilbert, a serial entrepreneur. 

Listen to Debbie share how her life took her on an amazing career journey and find out how she has supported lots of women to pursue a career that works around their lives.

She talks about how she left school at 16 and worked for British Gas where she spent a year working in Customer Services –  where people often shouted and screamed at her. Debbie ...

Our guest today is Dr Nasser Siabi OBE, CEO of Microlink PC.

Nasser talks about his early years, growing up in Iran and how his eyesight impacted on his learning, and how he lacked confidence because of this. However, when he came to England and began to study at college, he quickly grew in his confidence when he realised that it was his sight and not a lack of intelligence that had held him back.

Importantly for him, his father who ...

Our guest today is Lindsey Byrne who is a cognitive health coach. Her career path has been varied and during the pandemic her business fell apart and she had no income. 

Already in a stressful situation, she was also trying to help her parents move into a retirement village. Lindsey had noticed her mum’s memory had started declining a few years earlier, and after the move, Lindsay met someone who told her he had reversed ...

Our guest today is Debbie Marshall. Debbie is Managing Director of the Silver Marketing Association and also Chair of Trustees of Dementia Adventure.

Debbie tells us about her early life and her incredibly successful, varied and interesting career. This has included studying French, generating advertising for Coronation Street, working her way up from a ski rep to CEO of Crystal Travel, establishing an airline company, creating Silv...

Today’s guest is Mike Wilson, organizer of March of the Day ll in support of the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation an event that starts on the 21st of March.

Mike tells us how he became a charity event organiser, after years working in financial services. He describes the company he runs with his brother-in-law, Redwood Events Woody and highlights the transferrable skills which help him raise charitable

He explains how his passion fo...

Our podcast guest today is Maxine Linnell. Maxine first tells us about her fascinating career, including working as psychotherapist for 30 years, alongside many other interesting teaching and facilitating positions. She trained in humanistic and Buddhist psychotherapy, and specialised in working with trauma. In her 60s she fulfilled her childhood dream: her first book was published.

Maxine talks about her close friend Kate, who died...

Our guest today is Michael Verde, from Texas, who from a very early age made the decision that he didn’t want to end up in a small universe and decided reading 100 pages a day would broaden his horizons. 

 Michael is now a writer, and founded Memory Bridge in 2003 after hearing someone on a documentary talk about people with dementia in a disparaging way and meeting someone from the Smithsonian Centre for Folk Life a...

Today’s guest is Steve Brine, @BrineHealth, former Health Minister and Chair of the Health Select Committee, and co-host of the podcast, Prevention is the New Cure, @PreventionPodc.

Steve tells us about his journey into politics. His interest in the environment was sparked as a youngster, and he thought that politics might be the place to go if he wanted to change the world. On his arrival at the House of Commons when asked wh...

Keith Wilson lives near Darlington, and before he retired, he worked in education. His last job was director of higher education at a local college. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Keith shares that as an active person, he began to notice problems with his movement. Initially he thought it might be a brain tumour or multiple sclerosis, and his diagnosis of Parkinson’s was a slight relie...

Our podcast guest today is Nicole Smith from Australia. She is a nurse and a gerontologist who is extremely passionate about giving people who have dementia their best lives.

When you hear the story of Nicole’s upbringing, you will understand why she loves being with older people and why she fights for human rights for our elders. 

After becoming a registered nurse, she was recruited by a nursing home and quickly given res...

Our guest today is Charles Lowe who is the chief executive of Digital Health and Care Alliance (DACA), he is an expert in telehealth and telecare.

Throughout his career he has worked on technologies to support others. He shares with us how he wanted to open people’s eyes to recognise what technology can do to help people and how everybody can become digitally literate.

Growing up, Charles did voluntary work with...

Today’s guest on our podcast is Louise Thompson, who has set up the app Myfolks.

She tells us about growing up in a particularly poor area in the west end of Newcastle, in the North East of England.  Louise’s first job was at the Freeman Hospital where she was involved in some cardiovascular research that was published in a medical journal. Through this work she managed to gain admission to Northumbria University, w...

Today’s guest is Jules Robinson from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents – ROSPA. Jules is a guest who has an interest and expertise in falls and fall prevention.

Previously having worked in social housing, Jules’ background is in health and safety, and now she is the falls engagement lead at ROSPA. They campaign for better design elements with Safer by Design and Safer Stairs. They also want to educa...