Blogs & conversations - The Churchill Fellowship
The Churchill Fellowship
become a fellow

News & views

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

Supporting adolescent mental health in schools

Through his Churchill Fellowship, Charlie Samuda explored how schools in the USA, Canada, and South Korea are responding to the adolescent mental health crisis. Visiting over 30 organisations and schools, he examined how independent guidance, curriculum design, counselling, and safety systems can help schools support students more effectively. He reflects on what England could learn from these approaches as pressures on schools continue to grow.

By Charlie Samuda, 15 January 2026

Blogs & conversations

Supporting adolescent mental health in schools

Through his Churchill Fellowship, Charlie Samuda explored how schools in the USA, Canada, and South Korea are responding to the adolescent mental health crisis. Visiting over 30 organisations and schools, he examined how independent guidance, curriculum design, counselling, and safety systems can help schools support students more effectively. He reflects on what England could learn from these approaches as pressures on schools continue to grow.

By Charlie Samuda, 15 January 2026

Blogs & conversations

From Prisons to Community Studios: Fellows’ Blogs from 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, we’ve selected a range of Fellows’ blogs that capture the learning and perspectives they shared throughout the year. Covering topics from domestic abuse and criminal justice to arts, health, and innovation, these reflections show how Fellows are applying international insights in practical ways across the UK. Together, they offer a window into the conversations and connections shaping their ongoing work.

Blogs & conversations

In Conversation with Sophia Alexandra Hall: Empowering care-experienced voices in the media

We spoke to Churchill Fellow Sophia Alexandra Hall about how her Fellowship helped shape her trauma-informed interviewing toolkit, now used across major UK newsrooms. Drawing on her lived experience and 50 interviews in the USA, she reflects on the need for safer, more empowering media practices for care-experienced and other under-represented people. She also shares how this work has grown through training, conference speaking, and an expanding public platform at Big Issue.

By Sophia Alexandra Hall, 4 December 2025

Blogs & conversations

Later living that makes the most of every moment

Amid growing pressures across housing, health, and care, Churchill Fellows Graham Russell and Oona Goldsworthy argue that the lessons from their Fellowships – integrated commissioning, mixed communities, and stronger collaboration – are needed more urgently than ever. They highlight how Brunelcare, the care charity they both work at, is beginning to apply these approaches, from reablement and redevelopment to community-focused work that aims to improve later living.

By Graham Russell ~ Oona Goldsworthy, 20 November 2025

Blogs & conversations

Beyond the Beat: Building the Architecture for Creative Communities

Dominic Heslop’s Churchill Fellowship explored the “cultural architecture” that allows creativity to thrive and communities to heal, taking him to Jamaica, Berlin, and Athens – each offering lessons in resilience, expression, and collective care. Back in Sheffield, Dominic is embedding these insights into his grassroots organisation Slambarz, combining artistry with structure to support young people, build community, and show how creativity can strengthen wellbeing and identity.

By Dominic Heslop, 6 November 2025

Blogs & conversations

Improving care for those living and dying at society’s margins

Palliative care doctor Shaun Qureshi explores how the field can rekindle its original, radical spirit by addressing the inequities faced by marginalised people who remain under-served in current practice. His Churchill Fellowship took him to the USA and Canada, where he learned from centres of care for excluded groups and saw how trauma-informed, social justice, and inclusive approaches can be embedded into everyday work. His report sets out practical recommendations for building a system where everyone can access the palliative and end-of-life care they need.

By Shaun Peter Qureshi, 30 October 2025

Blogs & conversations

“Kindness and Goodwill”: Developing Postvention in Prison

With self-inflicted deaths in prisons remaining consistently high, Piers Barber set out to explore how prisons can respond with stronger postvention – systematic aftercare following a suicide. His Fellowship took him to New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, where he saw examples such as the embedded role of chaplains in New Zealand prisons, new trials in Australia, and trauma training models for staff in Canada. He is now sharing his reflections with UK practitioners and policymakers, calling for leadership, mapping of all contact points, and varied support to strengthen suicide prevention in custody.

By Piers Barber, 22 October 2025

Blogs & conversations

In conversation with Faith Yiminyi: Beyond the learning: a Churchill Fellowship’s lifelong influence

We spoke to Faith Yiminyi about her 2009 Churchill Fellowship, which took her to the United States to explore how dance companies could thrive and open opportunities for young people. At just 21, she set out to learn new styles, work with choreographers, and see how dance could build confidence and enrich communities. More than 15 years on, Faith reflects on how her Fellowship shaped her journey – from running her own dance school, to working in social care and cyber security, and now returning to dance as a board member of a community studio.

By Faith Yiminyi, 16 October 2025

Blogs & conversations

In conversation with Faith Yiminyi: Beyond the learning: a Churchill Fellowship’s lifelong influence

We spoke to Faith Yiminyi about her 2009 Churchill Fellowship, which took her to the United States to explore how dance companies could thrive and open opportunities for young people. At just 21, she set out to learn new styles, work with choreographers, and see how dance could build confidence and enrich communities. More than 15 years on, Faith reflects on how her Fellowship shaped her journey – from running her own dance school, to working in social care and cyber security, and now returning to dance as a board member of a community studio.

By Faith Yiminyi, 16 October 2025

Newsletter Sign Up