The Change Makers: How to Create Better Lives

“Survivors feel different to other people, like they don’t fit in, whereas here they meet each other and they connect...” In the last episode of the Change Makers Sir Tom meets Fiona Ellis and Clare Wilson, founders of Survivors in Transition helping survivors of sexual abuse.

In the second last episode of the first series of #TheChangeMakers, Sir Tom meets with Sophie Humphreys OBE, founder and driver of two charities: Pause, focusing on the wellbeing of children taken into care and SHiFT, a charity enabling children & young people to escape the destructive cycles of crime.

In episode fifteen of The Change Makers we meet Brad Gudger whose personal experience with cancer has given him an asset and skills to create a charity Alike to support and guide other people diagnosed with cancer.

In the new episode of The Change Makers, Sir Tom introduces us to Dame Esther Rantzen, who following her career as a successful broadcaster, created two charities Childline promoting child protection  and The Silver Line UK combating loneliness in older people's lives

In this episode of The Change Makers we meet an inspiring youth leader Junior Smart, who on release from prison set up the SOS Project, London’s largest gangs' ex-offenders exit programme, and a charity St Giles Trust. Junior talks about his personal experience and failings of the penal system.

Rory Moore is our next Change Maker. Rory is an LSE student who, in the challenging times of the pandemic, founded Coronavirus Community Volunteering (CCV Global) supporting people in their local communities. The charity has now spread all around the world with help of Rory's fellow students.

In this episode Sir Tom introduces us to Dame Laura Lee, who leads a charity - Maggie's, that cares for those living with cancer. Maggie's was a vision of Maggie Keswick Jencks, who lived with advanced cancer for two years and whose vision became a reality thanks to Dame Laura, Maggie’s nurse and friend.

Our next Change Maker Sat Singh started the Renaissance Foundation following personal experiences in his youth. The Renaissance Foundation offers a 3-year tailored outreach programme that aims to inspire, and support disadvantaged young people facing barriers to education, work, and fulfilment.

In this episode we meet a founder of the Listening Place, a charity where a team of trained volunteers offer free, confidential and ongoing face-to-face listening, by appointment, to people who feel that life is no longer worth living. The organisation sees 4000 people a year. Sarah started the charity in her 60s and is a living proof that it is never too late to start a charity that Creates Better Lives. 

In episode eight we meet a part-time Change Maker Nick O’Shea who besides being Chief Economist for Centre for Mental Health also runs Ignition Brewery, a brewery employing people with learning disabilities, involved in all aspects of the business from brewing and bottling to selling and product promotion.