The Big Pitch
Big ideas in just 10 minutes. Grab your lunch and take a seat.
Explore contributions across Manchester and London, then discover the exhibitions bringing Head, Heart, Hands to life. Titles and details will be added as they are confirmed.
Manchester · Monday 16 November
A Critical Youth Penality: Providing Alternatives to Custody for Children and Young People
Kate Westwood · Manchester Metropolitan University
Exploring alternatives to remanding children in custody.
Biography to follow.
Title to be confirmed
Jimmy Bates · Virtual Decisions
Interactive VR films and educational programmes from Virtual Decisions.
Biography to follow.
Title to be confirmed
Graham Helm · StreetGames
Community sport, early help and youth justice.
Graham Helm works with StreetGames on partnerships linking community sport, youth work and violence prevention. On secondment to Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit, he leads community sports activity within programmes shaped by young people and local communities. Biography source
Title to be confirmed
Ian Thomas · Trainer, speaker and published researcher
Trauma, healing, restoration and institutions.
Ian Thomas is a trainer, speaker and published researcher whose work centres on how people affected by care, trauma, addiction and the criminal justice system can be better understood and supported. Having experienced the care system, prison and addiction before building a sustained life in recovery, Ian brings lived experience together with more than 20 years' professional practice across foster care, criminal justice and international childcare reform. He holds a BA (Hons) in Social Work and an MA in Criminology with distinction, and is a doctoral researcher at Birmingham City University exploring how adults experience healing from childhood trauma. A TEDx speaker, Ian's work moves beyond understanding trauma towards creating the relational, organisational and social conditions in which healing becomes possible.
Manchester · Tuesday 17 November
Conflict resolution by young people, for young people
Ben Harper · Quakers in Britain
Peer mediation, conflict literacy and restorative approaches.
Ben has 25 years’ experience in education as a primary teacher, specialist leader in behaviour and attendance, and coach. He promotes relational and restorative practice across mainstream, alternative and informal education and volunteers as a Youth Justice Service panel member.
Parents’ experiences and supporting families affected by child exploitation
Lindsay Dalton · Ivison Trust
Listening to parents’ experiences and exploring support for families affected by child exploitation.
Lindsay Dalton is Chief Executive of Ivison Trust, formerly Parents Against Child Exploitation. She leads work supporting families affected by child exploitation and campaigns for systems that protect children, recognise their victimisation and strengthen relationships with parents and carers. Biography source
Listening Beyond Labels: Reintegrating and connecting young people through person-centred music therapy
Pippa Rous, Bev Raynor and Sarah Denman · Nordoff and Robbins
Music therapy, rehabilitation and reintegration with Nordoff and Robbins.
Biography to follow.
Life After Custody: how to successfully negotiate homelessness and find your place in community
Ruth Cox · Director of Services, Justlife Foundation
Homelessness after custody, smoother transitions and finding belonging in the community.
Ruth works to improve experiences of temporary accommodation through collaboration with people with lived experience. Her work includes supporting prison leavers’ transitions and convening Greater Manchester CAS3 One Team and Bolton Leaving Prison Well groups.
Title to be confirmed
Agustus Stewart · Writing justice
Writing and experience of justice.
Biography to follow.
Participation is Protection: sharing power as part of safeguarding and recovery
Abi Billinghurst · Abianda
Exploring how sharing power supports safeguarding and recovery.
Abi Billinghurst is founder and CEO of Abianda. With a background in youth work, she develops participatory, strengths-based approaches with young people affected by exploitation and violence. Her work centres young people’s right to influence the decisions and services that affect their lives. Biography source
Love in action and unequal lovability: LGBTQ+ young people affected by the justice system
Colin Michel · Resonant Collaboration · 10 minutes within 13:00–13:30
A short talk on emerging work with Peer Power Youth and SHiFT. Colin shares key messages from a literature review shaped with Peer Power Youth young partners and how they informed guidance co-created with SHiFT for practitioners working with LGBTQ+ young people.
He explores how legislation, guidance and protocols unevenly distribute worthiness of empathy and feeling loved—a concept he calls unequal lovability. He proposes naming lovability, widening choices, agreeing with young people what is written and reported about them, and working with partners and communities to strengthen the conditions for young people to flourish.
Colin Michel is Co-Director of Resonant Collaboration, a social enterprise working on youth safeguarding, relational practice and multi-agency systems change, and an ESRC-funded PhD researcher at the University of Sussex studying how youth and community workers take part in safeguarding arrangements. His career runs from direct practice in youth and community work to strategic leadership in the public sector.
London · Wednesday 18 November
Architecture Framing Positive Relationships
Mike Worthington · People Architects
Architecture, values and humanised services.
Biography to follow.
How can we build political support for system change?
Vicky Fobel · Programme Director, Better Justice Coalition, User Voice
How do we build support for early intervention, diversion and effective community sentences, and turn that support into change? Vicky shares learning from the Better Justice Coalition’s research and its strategy for driving change, with a challenge and a call to action.
Vicky Fobel has led successful programmes and campaigns achieving government policy change. She has a background as a lawyer in magic circle firms and has led third-sector policy and communications teams in the health, poverty and VAWG sectors. She now leads policy influencing at User Voice.
Vicky is inspired by bringing people and organisations together to make change happen and brought together nine major third-sector organisations to form the Better Justice Coalition, hosted by User Voice. The coalition has examined the factors influencing government justice decision making, to learn how we can shift the political dial. She is now building and mobilising a movement for change to advocate for early intervention, diversion and effective community sentences.
Navigational Safeguarding: What Are We Asking Young People to Navigate?
Rackeem Reid · Co-founder and CEO, Bouncing Statistics
The relationships, systems, identities and places that young people navigate.
Rackeem is an entrepreneur, educational leader and doctoral researcher. Through education, mentoring, alternative provision and professional development, he works to challenge inequalities and improve outcomes. His approach brings together lived experience, research and leadership.
Title to be confirmed
Alecky Blythe · Playwright
Insights into verbatim theatre, co-production and turning real-life conversations into compelling theatre.
Alecky pioneers verbatim theatre using recorded conversations with real people. Her work includes London Road at the National Theatre, an award-winning musical nominated for an Olivier Award.
From Participants to Leaders: What Happens When We Build With, Not For
Daisy Hill-Norton · Co-founder, Surf Cerrito
Long-term relationships, shared ownership and youth leadership.
Daisy co-founded Surf Cerrito, a Peruvian nonprofit using sport for positive change. Her work centres local leadership, gender equity and environmental action with young people, alongside facilitation, partnerships, fundraising and events.
Resentment or restoration? It’s a tough choice but it is a choice
Karen Lamb · Pupil Welfare and Safeguarding Officer, The Bemrose School
Restorative relationships and everyday responses to harm.
Karen is the School Mental Health Lead at an all-through school in Derby. A former dance and drama teacher and foster carer for 18 years, she holds a postgraduate qualification in therapeutic arts and champions non-shaming approaches.
Title to be confirmed
Jimmy Bates · Virtual Decisions
Interactive VR films and educational programmes from Virtual Decisions.
Biography to follow.
Title to be confirmed
Graham Helm · StreetGames
Community sport, early help and youth justice.
Graham Helm works with StreetGames on partnerships linking community sport, youth work and violence prevention. On secondment to Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit, he leads community sports activity within programmes shaped by young people and local communities. Biography source
Participation is Protection: sharing power as part of safeguarding and recovery
Abi Billinghurst · Abianda
Exploring how sharing power supports safeguarding and recovery.
Abi Billinghurst is founder and CEO of Abianda. With a background in youth work, she develops participatory, strengths-based approaches with young people affected by exploitation and violence. Her work centres young people’s right to influence the decisions and services that affect their lives. Biography source
Learn to Live: A Legacy
Jermaine Wong · Artist in residence
Film, prevention and collective responsibility.
Jermaine Wong is a poet, playwright and artistic director of Final Call Productions. His work spans spoken word, theatre and film, including the play Our Son. Through performance and storytelling, he invites audiences to reflect on meaning, purpose and human experience. Biography source
London · Thursday 19 November
Bereavement and Crime
Rev Douglas Creighton · Facilitating Chaplain, HMP Edinburgh; Prisons Project Lead, AtaLoss
Bereavement, grief and offending: early findings from prison pilots of The Bereavement Journey and its potential contribution to desistance.
Douglas supports bereavement work in prisons and introduced The Bereavement Journey programme at HMP Edinburgh in 2023.
Relationship is the intervention
Switchback · Relationship-based resettlement support
An emerging relational model of resettlement support.
Switchback supports young Londoners leaving prison through consistent mentoring relationships on both sides of the prison gate. Alongside practical support and real work training, it helps people build stability and make lasting changes in their lives. Biography source
What do you see?
Joanne O’Connor · Founder and Director, Junction 42
Perceptions, trauma, hope and transformative relationships.
Joanne brings 25 years’ experience in the sector. Junction 42 works creatively through faith, employability and support for transitions from prison, with work across the North East and Edinburgh.
The Life of a Top Boy: What We Call Defiance Is Often Post-Traumatic Stress
Dr Ron Dodzro · Clinical psychologist; Co-founder and Director, Psychologists The Streets Deserve
Trauma responses among Black boys and how these can be misread by professionals.
Ron specialises in trauma, PTSD and the impact of community violence. His work includes medico-legal expertise, UK Trauma Council involvement and research exploring experiences that may be misread as defiance.
Title to be confirmed
Professor Laura Abbott · University of Hertfordshire
The Lost Mothers Project: research on pregnancy and maternal health in prison.
Laura is Professor of Maternal Health in Criminal Justice and a registered midwife. She leads the Lost Mothers Project and co-founded Pregnancy in Prison International and the Prison Midwives Action Group.
Title to be confirmed
Joni Emery · Director, Clinks
Work after prison, reintegration and lived experience leadership.
Joni champions lived experience, inclusive employment and leadership in the voluntary sector. She is a Third Sector Rising Star award winner and a trustee of Clean Break.
Reading on forgiveness
Lara Monro · Writer, creative strategist and funding consultant, Working With
A reading exploring forgiveness.
Lara has 11 years’ experience in the arts, supporting more than 500 creatives and helping secure £900,000 in funding. Her work connects access, creative writing and restorative justice.
Title to be confirmed
Louise Smith and Mark Alexander · Criminal justice reform contributor
Life after prison, self-inflicted deaths in the community and post-incarceration syndrome.
Biography to follow.
Turning Recall into Reset: Rewiring the Justice System Through the 56-Day Opportunity
Naomi McGrath · Catch22
Using the recall period for assessment and relational support.
Biography to follow.
Title to be confirmed
Ian Thomas · Trainer, speaker and published researcher
Trauma, healing, restoration and institutions.
Ian Thomas is a trainer, speaker and published researcher whose work centres on how people affected by care, trauma, addiction and the criminal justice system can be better understood and supported. Having experienced the care system, prison and addiction before building a sustained life in recovery, Ian brings lived experience together with more than 20 years' professional practice across foster care, criminal justice and international childcare reform. He holds a BA (Hons) in Social Work and an MA in Criminology with distinction, and is a doctoral researcher at Birmingham City University exploring how adults experience healing from childhood trauma. A TEDx speaker, Ian's work moves beyond understanding trauma towards creating the relational, organisational and social conditions in which healing becomes possible.
Head, Heart, Hands
Three art exhibitions to explore as part of the gathering. Exhibition descriptions and practical details will be added soon.
HMP Whitemoor Portrait Exhibition
HMP Whitemoor · Portrait exhibition
Exhibition details to follow.
Alex Bower
Art exhibition
Exhibition title and description to follow.
Steeldoor Studio
Art exhibition
Exhibition title and description to follow.