The Locked up Living Podcast: Surviving and thriving in prisons and other challenging environments

142. Belinda Winder. Sexual Offending, exclusion and ”othering”.

Belinda is a Professor of Forensic Psychology. She is Research Director of the Centre of Crime, Offending, Prevention and Engagement (COPE), and part of the Sexual Offences, Crime and Misconduct Research Unit a at Nottingham Trent University. Working with people with lived experience, she seeks to make a difference in the world by designing and undertaking mixed-method research to inform and provide evidence-based practice and policy. Her primary field is sexual offending, but she also has a particular interest in life after prison and the reintegration of people into the community.
Belinda’s primary area of research interest is sexual offending but she’s also been very committed to exploring what life is like for people after they leave prison and how they re-integrate.  She is co-founder and previously a trustee of the Safer Living Foundation, a charity set up in 2014 to prevent further sexual offences. The charity won the Robin Corbett Award for prisoner rehabilitation in 2015 and  was awarded the Third Sector Charity of the Year in 2019.

141. Dr Jenny Mackay: Female perpetrators of intimate partner violence.

Dr Jenny Mackay is Principal Lecturer (forensic psychology) at Nottingham Trent University, with responsibility for outreach and student volunteering, Associate Course Leader for MSc Forensic Mental Health, Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Chartered Psychologist. She teaches on both the undergraduate and postgraduate psychology courses on the following modules:
Before joining NTU, Dr Jenny Mackay conducted her PhD titled, 'Comparing the treatment needs of women and men who perpetrate intimate partner violence'. Jenny currently holds Associate Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy, and is working towards Fellowship.
Prior to this, Jenny has spent her career in predominantly practitioner roles, working with vulnerable clients in a range of settings, both forensic and non-forensic. She has delivered substance misuse work, offending behaviour programmes and psychological one-to-one work in prisons with adults and young adults. She has worked in a Secure Children's Home with 10-17 year olds who have offended or who are considered 'at risk'. Jenny also gained experience carrying out in-depth functional analyses and was trained to write and evaluate Positive Behaviour Support plans whilst working as a Behavioural Clinical Specialist for the NHS with adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Jenny has also worked for the Probation Service, as a Project and Policy officer for an adult education research charity and has delivered workshops for expectant and new parents.
 
Research areas
Jenny is primarily interested in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, particularly understanding the evidence base of pathways to perpetration and how these might inform interventions. She is particularly interested in how women come to perpetrate IPV and the psychological mechanisms that underpin this.
Jenny is interested in policy and practice development in this area, specifically, how interventions for those who have perpetrated can be developed to reflect our most up-to-date understanding of the evidence base.

140. Ad Vingerhoets. The Psychology of Crying

Ad Vingerhoets  is emeritus professor of Emotions and Wellbeing. He was affiliated with the Department of Medical & Clinical Psychology of Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands. His areas of expertise are stress and emotions, and quality of life. In particular, his research on leisure sickness, homesickness and nostalgia, but especially crying, attracted much international media attention.
 
In addition to his publications in academic journals and books (>400), he also wrote some popular Dutch books on, among other subjects, love, crying, and, very recently, the functions of emotions in general.

139. Rina Bajaj. Counselling psychologist working with the privileged vs the marginalised

Dr Rina Bajaj is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist. She holds a first-class BA (Hons) in Psychology and a Doctorate (DPsych) in Counselling Psychology. Rina has over 15 years of experience and practices across London, UK.  In 2017, she founded her private consultancy, Rina Bajaj Ltd, which offers a specialist therapeutic service for adults and young people providing counselling, CBT, clinical supervision, EMDR therapy, couples/relationship therapy, business consultation and coaching. She has worked with many corporate companies, including several universities, providing workshops and training on areas including staff well-being, mental health awareness, mindfulness and stress management.
 
She is also well voiced on cultural issues and, as a young Asian woman, she is interested in how we define ourselves and what is considered “acceptable” in our society. Rina is also an expert on current issues and works with clients who experience anxiety, trauma and depression, amongst other common mental health concerns.
 
Dr Rina Bajaj has worked with many interesting clients over the years including YouTube stars, up and coming young celebrities, Reality TV personalities, high net worth individuals, athletes and musicians/artists. Having grown up with musicians in the family this is an area she has great insight to. Rina is naturally very empathetic and always wanted to be in a profession that could support people to change in a positive way.  She is a great believer in experiencing new things and believes that if she asks her clients to step out of their comfort zone, then she must be prepared to do the same.
 
Rina is a regular contributor to national media and is a confident presenter having spoken at national emotional wellbeing conferences aimed at a range of professionals. Recent media contribitions can be viewed via: linkt.ree/drrinabajaj
 
She is so passionate about mental health and wellbeing, that she has dedicated her instagram page to raising awareness of related issues. She hosts a regular instagram live session called “Chat with Dr Rina”, where she inteviews a variety of guests about their life experiences and how they take care of their own wellbeing
 
She is currently writing a self-empowerment book about the relationship that we have with ourselves as well as other people, which will be available soon. She likens it to having a psychologist in your pocket. The book will include practical activities and advice on how to challenge and work on relationships and self-image.
 
In her spare time Rina likes to focus on all aspects of her wellbeing. She shares a holistic approach to life and makes time for meditation, travelling, self-development, boxing and body pump!
 
Follow Dr Rina Bajaj on social media channels:
Facebook: DrRinaBajaj
Instagram @Dr.Rina.Bajaj
Twitter: @DrRinaBajaj
YouTube: Dr Rina Bajaj
tiktok@drrina8

138. Michelle Smith. What’s the impact on staff who work in trauma informed environments?

After starting out in Law Michelle moved to become a forensic psychologist. In this conversation she tells us about the things she notices about being in a prison, how important support and supervision is and how some professions are denied this passage to mental health and wellbeing.
Michelle Smith is a Chartered & Registered Forensic Psychologist who has worked across a range of forensic settings over the past 30 years including prisons, probation, secure hospital settings (both independent sector and NHS), and community settings. She currently works part time as an Associate Professor at the University of Lincoln and her teaching, research and ongoing independent professional practice centres on the development of trauma-informed ways of working in criminal justice, health and social care systems. This includes a focus on the impact on staff of such work and the development & maintenance of resilience and professional boundary management through reflective processes and systems.
For more detail please see book chapter mentioned in podcast: 
Smith, M. (2022). The Impact on staff of Trauma-Informed work in forensic settings. In P. Wilmott & L. Jones (Eds), Trauma-Informed Forensic Practice (pp. 363-379). Routledge. 
 
Further reading on some of the models mentioned in podcast: 
Boundary Seesaw Model 
Hamilton, L. ( 2010 ). The boundary seesaw model: Good fences make for good neighbours . In A. Tennant &K. Howells(Eds), Using time not doing time (pp. 181 – 194 ). Wiley- Blackwell . 
Model of Dynamic Adaptation  
Clarke ,J.( 2004 ). The psychosocial impact on facilitators of working therapeutically with sex off enders: An experimental study (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of York . 
Clarke ,J.( 2013 ). The resilient practitioner . In J. Clarke & P. Wilson (Eds), Forensic psychology in practice: A practitioners handbook (pp. 220 – 239 ). Palgrave MacMillan .  
Human Learning Systems Approach (the brain fog moment!) 
Lowe, T., French, M., Hawkins, M., Hesselgreaves, H., & Wilson, R. (2021).  New developments: Responding to complexity in public services: The human learning systems approach. Routledge. 
Check out the transcript over on substack: https://lockedupliving.substack.com/p/how-does-working-in-a-trama-informed

News and Current Affairs. Our contribution to this British Podcast Awards catagory including Eden, James Wong, Dan Lawrence and Dean Kingham.137.

In this 15 minute clip we hear from Eden who describes the traumatic consequences of whistleblowing, James Wong who tells us about the importance of engaging young men with a sense of power and creativity to prevent their criminalisation, Dan Lawrence talking about the use of restrictive practices in secure hospitals, and Dean Kingham a solicitor who represents some of societies' most scorned people discussing why prison doesn't work.

136 Wellbeing. Our submission for this British Podcast awards section.

This is our 15 minute submission for the Wellbeing section of the British Podcast awards. In our podcasts we are always seeking positive experiences to balance some of the more damaging or corrosive experiences we encounter.  Our well-being entry may be a quirky take but its based in real-life applications of psychological principles
Including Hugh Venables discussing how to journal and why its so good for our mental health, Shona Herron describing her research into emptiness, Joe Sabien on harnessing awe at the sea to help marginalised people heal and Caroline Purvey on the importance of releasing the psoas muscle for emotional and physical well-being.

135. Shona Minson. Submission for Interview Category of British Podcast Awards 2023

So many great guests and conversations to choose from.  But we needed a conversation that could be distilled down to 15 minutes.
We chose Shona for our submission to the British Podcast Awards for the Interview category. This is a short clip where Shona describes the emotional impact of her work with the children of imprisoned parents. It was a powerful interview and we found it difficult to distill it down to 15 minutes. Let us know what you think. Maybe you'd have chosen differently?

134 Sarah J Naylor. Coronation Day special. Transitions: How to grow through crisis

Sarah J Naylor, The Midlife Success Coach
“Making Midlife Magical!”
Sarah helps midlife women in their 40s and 50s, rediscover, or even discover who they are as they reach this magical midpoint in their lives.  
She helps them put some ‘sass in their ass’ and propel themselves forward with strength and style.
In fact, she’s on a mission to get mid-life women enjoying ALL aspects of their life again and that includes loving and valuing themselves, being cared for, enjoying great sex, kick-starting their careers, and believing that their age, and every beautiful wrinkle, brings with it wisdom and experience.
Age, she states, is their superpower!
Sarah encourages facilitating a growth mindset approach, positive psychology, solution-focused outcome thinking, shifts in perspective, energy alignment, spirituality and so much more, including her APE Mindset™ Methodology to help women navigate their way through their midlife and all the changes that take place: personally, and professionally.
At 57, Sarah has personally navigated a raft of personal and professional changes including divorce (after 20 years), relationship breakdowns, online dating, finding love, embracing entrepreneurship at 43, a flood of personal development, and training, resulting in becoming a qualified coach, an Amazon number one best-selling author, speaker, business owner, and Harnessing Happiness podcast host, which has had in excess of 37K global downloads in over 129 countries.. 
If you would like to know more about Sarah please head over to her website www.sarahjnaylor.com or please do connect with her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjnaylor/
 

133. Vincent McGovern Challenging misandry in the family court

Todays conversation is with Vincent McGovern, Vincent works part time as a shared parenting campaigner. He is also Chair of Central and North London Branches of Families Need Fathers, a Shared Parenting Charity. He has had 18 inquiries and five Ombudsman (including 3 Parliamentary & Health Services Ombudsman) investigations into malpracticing children's services all ending with findings in his favour including compensation. He addressed x2 the Euro Parliament Petitions Commission and forced the first inspection of UK family law by the EU comm. The video is at vincentmcgovern.com.Those services at fault were Brent Social Services, Brent C.A.M.H.S, Solicitors Regulatory Authority , Brent Primary Care Trust, and Cafcass, the UK Children and Family Co

132. Iain Smith - Trauma informed law

Iain Smith is in his 30th year of being a lawyer. Started out in a civil firm where Robert Louis Stephenson trained. Created his own business in 1998 with Jim Keegan, Kings Counsel who was by then an experienced high court solicitor advocate. Iain concentrated on crime but also did children’s referral hearings and acted as a sports lawyer for international rugby stars. 
In 2018 he had an epiphany  in reaction to being educated on the biological impact of trauma on the childhood brain. He suddenly saw his clients properly for the first time. He then realised others didn’t know about childhood trauma and the links to addiction and poor self regulation.  
He co-created Trauma Aware Law in December 2020, with legal colleagues and pals from the Scottish Police Violence Reduction Unit. 
In 2020 won the Scottish Lawyer of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards. 
2021 Herald Scottish Criminal Law Firm of the Year - Keegan Smith
2022 Scottish Legal Awards Criminal Law Firm of the Year - Keegan Smith
2022 Herald Legal Awards Innovation Award - Trauma Aware Law 
Nominated for Pro Bono Award 
https://www.lawscot.org.uk/news-and-events/events/trauma-informed-lawyer-certification-course/
 
https://twitter.com/TraumaAwareLaw
 
The awards opened doors & gave credibility to the campaigning. (I’m not the best lawyer in Scotland !). 
 
His aim is to bring knowledge of trauma into the justice system and then persuade the players in it to change & create more compassionate outcomes for who we perceive as “baddies”. 
 
You can find the transcript of this conversation at:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/should-all-lawyers-be-aware-of-the?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

131. Rafael Viola. (Trigger warning; sexual abuse references) Seeking justice via Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse

This powerful conversation is with Rafael Viola. Rafael is a survivor of Catholic Church abuse, he is a campaigner fighting for change and accountability seeking justice for the atrocities that happened at CROOME COURT children's home . He was a core participant at the iiicsa inquiry himself and he with many others survivors were refused the opportunity to give oral evedence. He was shocked at the way survivors were sidelined while perpetrators and thise representing perpetrators seemed cosy and complicit with the inquiry. He wants to know why were core participants and survivors silenced by iiicsa, The Independant Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/

130. Patrick Mills: How systemic is sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church? (Trigger warning.Sexual abuse references)

We’re really excited about today’s guest.  He will be a familiar name to many.  Pat Mills has been a successful writer and editor of popular culture from the age of 20, developing comics, novels, science fiction, film and game work. 
 
Perhaps best-known as the developer of Judge Dredd and writer of Charley’s War, a long running anti-war saga that sells throughout Europe, all of Pat’s stories are about fighting abusive authority.  That trait extends to the catholic church and his experiences as a child.
 
Pat also would be described as a whistleblower.  He has a really insightful grasp of the structure of the Roman Catholic Church and how its highly organised structure has enabled a network of paedophiles to operate within it.  He is working hard to expose this and make it more transparent to others.  This conversation is likely to shock and depress you in places.
 
You can find the transcript of this conversation on our Substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/pat-mills-how-systemic-is-sexual?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

129. Ashley Conway: Exploring Trauma, Memory, and the Controversy of False Memory Syndrome

 
This episode of the Locked Up Living podcast features a conversation with Ashley Conway, a counseling psychologist specialized in trauma memory, particularly childhood abuse. Conway discusses the origin and implications of false memory syndrome, emphasizing the harmful effects it has on survivors of abuse. He brings light to the False Memory Syndrome Foundation's controversial history, its connections with figures from psychology and the CIA, and the impact on both the therapeutic field and survivors. Conway also shares insights into his personal methods of maintaining mental health and well-being, highlighting the importance of creativity, nature, exercise, and familial support.
00:00 Unveiling DARVO: The Dynamics of Abuse01:04 Introducing Locked Up Living: A Podcast on Overcoming Institutional Life01:25 Spotlight on Ashley Conway: A Career in Counseling Psychology05:11 Exploring False Memory Syndrome: Origins and Controversies14:54 The Intriguing Case of Elizabeth Loftus and Ethical Dilemmas20:56 The Formation and Impact of False Memory Foundations in the US and UK31:43 The Profound Impact of False Memory Discourse on Survivors32:36 Personal Accounts and the Long Wait for Justice33:07 The Dangers of Seeking Therapy for Survivors34:32 Exploring the Controversial Work of Martin Orne39:15 Unveiling the MKUltra Program and Its Horrors47:23 The Formation and Goals of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation54:02 The Consequences of Exposing Controversial Truths58:00 Maintaining Mental Health Amidst Challenging Work
 
Sinason, V. & Conway,A (Eds) (2022) Trauma and Memory – The Science and the Silenced. London: Routledge.
Conway A.(2022). In conversation with Ross Cheit. In: Trauma and Memory: The Silence and the Silenced. London: Routledge.
Conway, A. (2022) The abuse of the science to silence the abused. In: Trauma and Memory: The Silence and the Silenced. London: Routledge.
Conway & D. Pilgrim (2022). The policy alignment of the British False Memory Society and the British Psychological Society. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 165- 176. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2022.2028222
 
Conway, A. (2023 / In press) Policy capture at the BPS: the memory and law controversy. In:
Pilgrim,D (Ed) British Psychology in Crisis. A Case Study in Organisational Dysfunction
 
You can find a transcript of this conversation over on our Substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/ashley-conway-accidental-expert-in?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

128. James Wong (of A Band of Brothers): reducing imprisonment for young males

James Wong currently serves as Chief Development Officer (CDO) at A Band of Brothers (https://abandofbrothers.org.uk/). He is accountable for creating sustainable fundraising avenues and revenue streams in realising Abandofbrothers’ mission.
James believes in laying down healthy foundations for our future generations. After many years of feeling frustration and desperation in his efforts, he has found new hope, meaning and personal potency by coming together in community to share the responsibility of supporting some of the most troubled young men in our society.
Building on successful careers in Hospitality Management, Landscape Gardening and as a Therapeutic Counsellor; James joined Abandofbrothers in 2014.
He has since served his apprenticeship as a Mentor to young men, a Community Project Leader, a Certified Weekend Rite of Passage Leader and Mentor, National Council Representative and Regional CEO.
In his current role as CDO and working closely with Conroy and Dan; James’ passion for storytelling, entrepreneurial thinking and ability to operationalise ideas into action serve to help synergise our programmes, people and finances.
 
You can find a transcript of this conversation over on our Substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/james-wong-rites-of-passage-with?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web 

127. Poet Hugh Venables: How and why journalling is good for your well-being

Many of our podcast conversations have engaged with the idea of thinking, how to encourage, to change, to stop. This discussion is also about thinking but approaching it from an oblique angle. Journaling and poetry, two activities that involve getting thoughts out of ones mind and written down on paper.
Hugh Venables is a Yorkshire-based writer and poet. He is passionate about the power of words. A selection of his poetry is available at  hughvenablespoetry.com 
 
You can find a transcript of this conversation over on our substack:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/hugh-venables-transcript-the-alchemy?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
 
Until his retirement, for twenty-five years he ran his own successful marketing communications and graphic design company in York.
 
Married with four grown-up children, Hugh enjoys bird-watching and walking, especially across the North of England. He is also a keen amateur horologist. His 'reflections' blog, about clocks, time and life in general, can be found at www.theclock-shop.co.uk/reflections/
 
Hugh can be contacted via comments@hughvenablespoetry.com
 
We, and Hugh would welcome feedback about his episode.

126. Dan Lawrence, Psychosis, trauma and use of restrictive practices in secure hospitals

Dan Lawrence is a forensic psychologist who is based in a secure mental health service in south wales where he provides input into medium and low secure services for men. He is also a PhD student, associate tutor and academic supervisor at Cardiff Metropolitan University. He conducted an important scoping study into the effect of restrictive practices in adult forensic mental health services. D Lawrence et al.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14999013.2021.1887978?journalCode=ufmh20
"The studies were grouped into four main areas: 1) Nature of the problem describing the type, incidence, prevalence and scope of restrictive practices in secure mental health services; 2) Service user perceptions and experiences of restrictive practices; 3) Staff experiences, views and decision making; and 4) Interventions designed to reduce the use of restrictive practices. Findings support the notion that restrictive practices have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of most service users in adult secure services as well as the staff who use them. Continued efforts to reduce restrictive practices are needed and the importance of collaborative working cannot be understated. Implications for future research, clinical practice, policy and best practice guidelines are all discussed."
 
You can find a transcript of this conversation over on our Substack at:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/dan-lawrence-working-with-people?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

125. Alex Busansky & George Carter Impact Justice and Farming in US prisons

Alex Busansky (president of Impact Justice) and George Carter Impact/Justice
 
Today we are pleased to be meeting with Alex Busansky. Alex began his career as a prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 1987. For 12 years, he handled homicides, serious domestic and other family violence, and sex abuse cases. He moved on to found Impact Justice, a national innovation and research center based in Oakland, CA and Washington, DC, which works to create a more humane and restorative system of justice in the United States. I should mention that we have engaged with Impact/Justice previously when we talked with Leslie Soble and Roy Waterman about food in US prisons.
At Impact Justice, Alex works to reduce the number of people involved in the justice system, improve conditions for those currently incarcerated, and support people successfully re-enter communities. He and his colleagues have developed, launched, and scaled numerous projects including the Restorative Justice Project, the PREA Resource Center, the Homecoming Project, the Research and Action Center, and the Center on Youth Registration Reform.  
https://impactjustice.org/
George Carter is the founder of Skout strategy and is an eco-system and food systems builder and AgTechnologist. He partners with Impact Justice to develop vertical farming.
https://www.skoutstrategy.com/

124. Margie Wright: What is Transpersonal Psychotherapy?.

One of the pleasures of our Locked up Living conversations, for us, is that we are always meeting people who come with different experience and a different perspective. But always the underlying tenets ar the same, sensitivity, thoughtfulness and trust. Such a person is Margie Wright.
Margie Wright bio.
When I was a teenager growing up in Zimbabwe I used to imagine, one day working as a psychotherapist but I never said it out loud as my family seldom talked about or showed those things called emotions. Instead, I went on to university in South Africa and studied Zoology and Entomology. I did though manage a sneaky year of psychology. As an Entomologist I worked in biological control and my job took me to the Sudan. Afterwards I had the experience of living in Egypt. There, I was involved in setting-up and volunteering for Befrienders Cairo (the Samaritans abroad), for 10 years, which I found fulfilling. On return to the UK, I found the courage to explore my teenage dream and did a foundation year in counselling. At last, I felt as if I was on the right track as counselling seemed to come naturally to me. I went on to train as a Transpersonal Psychotherapist at The Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education (CCPE), in London. Currently, I run my own private practice as a therapist and supervisor with a focus on developmental trauma having, also trained in two approaches effective in trauma therapy; Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Internal Family Systems therapy. I am a member of staff at CCPE and run workshops entitled, “Trauma and the Transpersonal”. Please see my website www.counsellinginamersham.co.uk for further details.
 
Transcript of conversation can be found here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/margie-wright-what-is-transpersonal?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

123. Rick Bradford author of The Empathy Gap: Why do we find it hard to discuss male vulnerability?

In this fascinating and challenging conversation Dr Bradford talks about his journey towards a realisation that the male/female disadvantage debate is much more complex than it may seem. But it is always very difficult and sometimes dangerous to talk about.
Dr Rick Bradford has enjoyed a successful  career in physics and engineering, he has become increasingly drawn to investigating men’s issues in recent decades, and has gained much respect for his insightful blogging and his encyclopaedic book on issues facing men, The Empathy Gap.