Blogs & conversations
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Blogs & conversations

Churchill Fellows offer their views and advice on topical issues, based on global research and UK activities.

To connect with a Fellow, please go to their Profile page. To find related content, click the tag under each item below. To receive regular blog alerts, sign up at the foot of this page.

If you are a Fellow and would like to write a blog for us, please email digital@churchillfellowship.org to discuss the topic you have in mind.

Blogs & conversations

Advancing Sexual Self-Advocacy for Adults with Learning Disabilities

Sue Sharples travelled to the USA and Canada to explore new approaches to preventing sexual harm among adults with a learning disability – including linking self-advocacy skills to sexual rights education and using trauma-informed practice. Since returning, she has co-authored a training pack for social care staff and worked with learning disabled colleagues in Lancashire to develop a new sexual self-advocacy resource. Grounded in the belief that people should be their own first line of defence, it’s already helping people feel safer, better informed, and more in control.

By Sue Sharples, 19 June 2025

Blogs & conversations

Advancing Sexual Self-Advocacy for Adults with Learning Disabilities

Sue Sharples travelled to the USA and Canada to explore new approaches to preventing sexual harm among adults with a learning disability – including linking self-advocacy skills to sexual rights education and using trauma-informed practice. Since returning, she has co-authored a training pack for social care staff and worked with learning disabled colleagues in Lancashire to develop a new sexual self-advocacy resource. Grounded in the belief that people should be their own first line of defence, it’s already helping people feel safer, better informed, and more in control.

By Sue Sharples, 19 June 2025

Blogs & conversations

Giving Suicide a Language

I grew up without the words to talk about suicide – and didn’t speak about my own bereavement until my forties. My Fellowship set me on a path to change that, taking me to India and Canada to explore suicide prevention in communities like my own. Since then, I’ve joined a global network of preventionists, trained in early intervention, and started sharing what I’ve learned – from working with therapists to leading workshops with young people to help open up conversations.

By Anoo Bhalay, 19 June 2025

Blogs & conversations

In Conversation with Emily Jenkins: Integrating Dance into Cancer Care

We spoke to Churchill Fellow Emily Jenkins about how dance can support women living with and beyond cancer. Emily shared how her Fellowship travels across Europe and the USA gave her space to connect with others working at the intersection of dance and health – and how those insights have helped shape her next steps. She reflects on the growth of her organisation, Move Dance Feel, and her mission to train other artists to deliver dance in cancer care, creating a wider community of practice that can reach more people in need of support.

By Emily Jenkins, 5 June 2025

Blogs & conversations

Bringing Rural Abuse into Focus: What survivors are telling us, and why we must listen

As part of my Fellowship, I travelled across rural regions in the USA, Canada, and Australia, connecting with experts and victim-survivors to explore how to improve safety and achieve equity. My learning and earlier conversations with Rhianon Bragg – a survivor whose story reveals deep cracks in our justice system – helped shape my focus post-Fellowship, laying the groundwork for a new social enterprise to raise the status of rural domestic abuse in public policy and support more coordinated, realistic responses.

By Judith Vickress, 29 May 2025

Blogs & conversations

A Lifetime in Paper and Cloth

Forty years on, my Churchill Fellowship to Japan to study traditional handmade paper still shapes how I think, create, and teach. It sparked a lifelong journey exploring paper, place and identity – one that continues to evolve as I balance creativity with care, and remain rooted in community and resilience.

By Cas Holmes, 22 May 2025

Blogs & conversations

Organising with Parents and Carers: Lessons from the US East Coast

Visiting cities across the East Coast of the USA, I explored how parent-led organising is creating change in education – from winning funding for school buildings to building trust between families and institutions. My Churchill Fellowship is now helping shape how we grow our Parent Power programme at The Brilliant Club, embedding lessons on community, leadership and long-term impact.

By Jimmy Pickering, 8 May 2025

Blogs & conversations

"If Not Us, Then Who?" Transforming Social Care

A BBC debate on the Assisted Dying Bill pushed me out of my depth – but my Churchill Fellowship had prepared me to feel the fear and do it because. What began as a modest research plan became a five-week tour across the USA, connecting with trauma institutes, service providers and experts. The relationships I built continue to shape my work today, including through Unique Connections – our growing effort to build a social care system grounded in love, belonging, and equity for people with intellectual disabilities.

By Beverley Samways, 1 May 2025

Blogs & conversations

From Wonder to Well-Being: Exploring the Power of Scent

What began as a creative experiment at Central Saint Martins has evolved into a wearable scent technology designed to support mental wellbeing. My Churchill Fellowship enabled me to explore how sensory fashion could be used to manage stress – learning that now underpins the development of Scent Bubble®, supported by NHS innovation partners and recently featured at London Fashion Week.

By Jenny Tillotson, 24 April 2025

Blogs & conversations

Global Lessons from Domestic Abuse Fatality Reviews

My Churchill Fellowship took me to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada and the USA to explore how fatality review systems can help prevent domestic abuse-related deaths. That learning now underpins my ongoing research and my new book ‘The Potential and Peril of Reviewing Domestic Abuse-Related Deaths’, which brings international insights into dialogue with current practice in England and Wales – highlighting both the opportunities and challenges of meaningful review.

By James Rowlands, 10 April 2025

Blogs & conversations

Global Lessons from Domestic Abuse Fatality Reviews

My Churchill Fellowship took me to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada and the USA to explore how fatality review systems can help prevent domestic abuse-related deaths. That learning now underpins my ongoing research and my new book ‘The Potential and Peril of Reviewing Domestic Abuse-Related Deaths’, which brings international insights into dialogue with current practice in England and Wales – highlighting both the opportunities and challenges of meaningful review.

By James Rowlands, 10 April 2025

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