Conversations That Create Change
Calm & Change offers talks for people and organisations navigating complexity, difference, and pressure — where communication shapes outcomes, relationships, and culture.
These sessions support leaders, educators, teams, and communities to understand what’s really happening in their conversations, and to communicate with greater clarity, steadiness, and care in everyday work.
What These Talks Offer
Each talk creates a structured, grounded space to explore how communication is shaped by emotion, identity, roles, and systems. The focus is on making sense of patterns, naming pressure clearly, and strengthening the conditions for understanding — without blame, performance, or forced agreement.
The work is coaching-led, practical, and accessible. No personal disclosure is required.
Who These Talks Are For
These talks are well-suited for:
organisations and teams working in complex or high-pressure environments
universities, educators, and learning communities
leaders navigating uncertainty, responsibility, and change
community groups working across difference
Explore the Talks
Each session can stand alone or be combined into a wider programme. Scroll down to explore individual talks, or get in touch to discuss what would best support you
Understanding the Inner Patterns That Influence Your Communication
A talk that helps people understand what shapes their inner voice including values, emotional responses, and lived experience — and how these influence communication under pressure. Participants build awareness of stress-driven habits and learn how to communicate with greater clarity, steadiness, and self-trust, without being asked to disclose personal details.
Conversations That Lead to Understanding
This practical session supports people to speak clearly and listen in ways that help others feel understood and respected. Using a coaching approach, participants learn how conversations function when emotion or disagreement is present, and how to stay grounded without escalating conflict, avoiding the topic, or performing certainty.
Relational Leadership: Leading with Presence Rather Than Pressure
A foundational leadership talk that supports managers and leaders to develop relational intelligence. Using a coaching lens, the session explores how trust, communication, and behaviour are shaped by context and systems — and how leaders can guide others with clarity and steadiness rather than control or performance.
How to navigate the rules you live, study, and work under.
A coaching-led, systems-aware talk that helps people see how systems ,l structures shape behaviour, communication, and conflict. Participants gain language for understanding when tension is structural rather than personal, and learn how to advocate effectively within systems without burning out.
Strengthening Team Relationships Through Clear, Calm Communication
A coaching-informed talk for teams who want healthier day-to-day working relationships. The session helps groups understand why tension builds even with good intentions, and offers practical tools for reducing stress in difficult conversations, rebuilding trust, and supporting calmer, more humane collaboration.
Communicating Across Difference With Clarity and Care
This session supports teams and communities to navigate conversations shaped by identity, values, and emotional safety. Rather than aiming for agreement, participants build capacity to stay present, reflective, and cooperative when disagreement feels uncomfortable or threatening.
Example Talk
In April 2024, I took the TEDxBrighton stage with How to Build Your Joyful House—a talk introducing a new kind of framework for communities. It explored how we can move beyond mere survival and create environments where people feel psychologically empowered, connected, and capable of real healing. At its core, the talk is about the inner foundations needed for conversations that deepen our understanding of ourselves and the communities we belong to. It's an invitation to imagine—and build—communities where growth, honesty, and collective strength are not just possible, but expected.