Congratualations to all of this year’s winners and runners-up.
Thank you to everyone who nominated an individual, team or organisation.
The Winners and Runners-up are listed below.
Expert Citizens Conference and National INSIGHT Awards 2025 took place in the Catalyst Building at the University of Staffordshire on Wednesday 26th November 2025 and attended by 170 EC friends, partners and finalists from across the country.
The day was hosted by Darren Murinas, Chief Executive, Expert Citizens and Laura Bailey, Founder of Ulysses Youth
The vibrant event celebrated lived experience through inspiring and often emotional talks, performances and awards presentations. The whole event was recorded and videos of the speakers can be seen on our Youtube channel by clicking on the links below:
Darren Murinas and Laura Bailey Opening
Surfing Sofas – Social Justice Poet and Workshop Facilitator
Samantha Billingham – Founder SODA (Survivors of Domestic Abuse)
Christopher Egan – Lived Experience lead at We Are Survivors (WAS)
Ann-Marie Douglas – Founder & CEO Peer Power Youth
Sarah Whitehead – Co-Director at Community Pride
Tammy Banks – Founder and Director of Taye Training
Akeem Thames – Lived Experience Practitioner and Music Artist
Akeem Thames – Closing Performance
Photographs from the day can be download from our Flickr account here.
Expert Citizens is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the National INSIGHT Awards in 2025.
The INSIGHT Awards was created to celebrate examples of positive or/and outstanding practice that tackle social disadvantages where ever we may find them.
We have identified five key characteristics; Welcoming; Listening; Learning; Leading and Volunteering; that we believe to be fundamental when delivering, managing, planning and commissioning services.
Whilst these are relevant to everyone accessing services, it’s our view that a conscious effort is needed by people and services to apply these principles in the context of people experiencing social disadvantage in all is forms.
These characteristics are intended to apply from the frontline to the board room. As such, people can be nominated from any level of an organisation, or as an independent practitioner or professional, or an organisation itself can be nominated.
What makes the National INSIGHT Awards unique is that they are judged and delivered by people with lived experiences of the systems and services we believe need to change.
Volunteering
Volunteering is one of the purest expressions of community. It’s the choice to give time, care and compassion, not for recognition, but because it matters. The Volunteering Award celebrates the people and organisations who make this possible, creating opportunities for others to contribute, connect, and find meaning through service. They show us that even small acts, given freely, can transform lives and strengthen communities. In their hands, volunteering becomes more than a gift of time, it becomes a force for hope, belonging, and change.
Winner
Pathways
This peer-led group for people with young onset dementia, their families, and carers is run entirely by volunteers. People living with dementia, former carers, nurses, and supporters all give their time freely, creating a community built on compassion, equality, and shared experience. From welcoming members and cooking shared meals, to fundraising and running craft sessions, every act of kindness keeps the group thriving. During lockdown, volunteers delivered craft packs and hosted online meetups, ensuring no one was left behind. Today, their online community reaches nearly a thousand people, extending hope and understanding far beyond their local area.
Pathways’ volunteers show that lived experience is a powerful force for good, breaking down stigma, restoring confidence, and reminding people they’re not alone. Together, they’ve built more than a support group. They’ve built a family, proving how generosity and humanity can change lives.
First Runner-up
Niall Love
For years, Niall has been a constant presence in Manchester’s fight against homelessness, quietly changing lives, one practical act at a time. Through his volunteering with Coffee 4 Craig and the Manchester Homelessness Partnership, he has helped hundreds of people open bank accounts, a small step that often marks the first real chance to rebuild a life. His persistence has even helped banks change their own procedures, making financial inclusion possible for those most excluded.
Each month, Niall researches and updates a detailed list of food support across Greater Manchester, work that helps thousands of people in crisis find hot meals, accurate information, and dignity. And every week, he’s there serving food, welcoming people by name, offering warmth and laughter when it’s needed most. Niall’s dedication is a reminder that real change often begins with compassion, commitment, and the will to keep showing up, again and again.
Second Runner-up
Tammy Teague
At Brighter Futures, Tammy Teague gives her time, her kindness, and her heart to create a space where women can truly be themselves. As a volunteer at the Orchid Women’s Service, Tammy co-runs the Loose Women group, safe, welcoming space where laughter, conversation, and creativity help women rebuild confidence and connection. She brings understanding, lived experience, and patience to every session, listening, encouraging, and helping each woman find her own path forward. Whether through crafts, conversation, or simply being there, Tammy makes sure everyone feels valued and included.
For women facing difficult journeys, her warmth and constancy offer something rare, a sense of safety, belonging, and belief. Tammy’s volunteering shows that leadership doesn’t always mean standing in front, sometimes it means standing side-by-side, offering hope, and reminding others of their own strength.
Welcoming
The Welcoming Award celebrates those who open their arms, their minds, and their hearts. Those who remind us that true inclusion begins not with policies or programmes, but with people, people who see potential where others see problems, and who create spaces where everyone belongs. These nominees show us that a simple act of kindness can spark extraordinary change. They meet people where they are, listen without judgement, and help them to believe that they matter. Through their warmth, compassion, and humanity, they transform lives and remind us all what it truly means to welcome.
Winner
Jennie Fortune
In Westminster’s Maida Hill Market, a place often overlooked by many, one person has helped to change the story.
For more than three years, Jennie Fortune has been a constant presence, meeting people others might pass by, with patience, warmth, and an open heart. Through her pioneering Blue Light work, Jennie reaches those facing severe social disadvantage people whose lives are marked by isolation, alcohol dependence, and hardship nd shows them something different: genuine welcome.
Jennie’s approach is simple, yet profound. No forms. No expectations. Just human connection, a cup of hot chocolate, a conversation, a shared moment that restores dignity. Her weekly one-stop-shop at Maida Hill brings housing, clinical and welfare support directly to those who need it most, building trust where once there was only distance.
Because of Jennie, people are finding homes, healthcare, and hope again. She is changing not only lives, but perceptions, reminding an entire community what it truly means to be welcoming.
First Runner-up
The Next Steps Team
At the Orchard, the Next Steps Team has created more than a service — they’ve built a sanctuary. A place where people in recovery are not defined by their past, but supported in rediscovering hope, community, and purpose.
Through simple acts, a shared walk, a craft session, a quiet conversation — the team shows what welcome truly means. They meet each person with kindness, patience, and respect. One woman, once too afraid to open her curtains, now creates art and joins community groups, her confidence growing day by day, all because someone believed in her worth.
Co-production is at the heart of Next Steps. They listen, adapt, and empower, offering safe spaces for men, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals to talk, to heal, and to belong.
Their outreach reaches those most isolated, ensuring no-one is left behind. In every moment, the Next Steps Team remind us that recovery begins with welcome and that being seen, heard, and valued can change a life.
Second Runner-up
Yellow Brick Road Projects
At Yellow Brick Road Projects, welcome is more than a word, it’s a way of being. Their open-door policy invites anyone in need to step inside, to be heard, valued, and truly seen. Here, a cup of tea, a smile, and a safe space become the starting point for hope. Through the You Matter programme, young people take charge of their own journey, deciding what they need, and how they wish to grow. For some, it’s the first time they’ve ever felt in control of their lives. And the results are remarkable: young people moving into homes, finding jobs, starting businesses, volunteering, and discovering self-belief they never knew they had.
One young person said, “You took the time to listen and understand, others said they would help, but never really listened.” That’s the heart of Yellow Brick Road Projects, a place where every welcome can lead to a whole new beginning.
Listening
True listening is an act of respect, a way of saying, your experience matters. The Listening Award celebrates those who listen deeply, with patience, curiosity, and empathy, to truly understand the realities of people’s lives. These nominees don’t rush to respond or to fix. They take time to hear what’s really being said, and in doing so, reveal insights that can shape better, fairer services. They remind us that real understanding comes when we listen without judgement, with open hearts and open minds. Because before change can happen, we must first hear and truly understand.
Winner
Changing Futures / Bad Kamra
Sometimes, listening isn’t about words, it’s about giving people the space to speak in their own voice, on their own terms.
Through Unseen Voices 2: Fairy Tales from the Edge, Changing Futures and Bad Kamra have created just that, a courageous, creative platform where people experiencing multiple disadvantage can tell their stories with truth and strength. Co-produced from start to finish, every scene, every line, and every moment belongs to the participants themselves.In this safe and supportive space, poetry, music, dance, and film become instruments of healing transforming trauma into art, and silence into influence. The project has already inspired new opportunities, from higher education to paid creative roles, and it is shaping the very systems that once failed to hear these voices. Changing Futures and Bad Kamra remind us that when we truly listen, with patience, empathy, and equality, the unheard can change not only their own stories, but the world around them.
First Runner-up
Luke Edwards
At Number 11, Luke Edwards listens in a way that few can because he’s walked a similar path. Once without a home, living in a tent in the woods, Luke found stability, purpose, and success, graduating from Keele University with first-class honours, and now pursuing his master’s degree. But it’s how he uses that experience that makes him extraordinary. In one-to-one sessions, in groups he’s co-created, through quiet empathy and intelligent curiosity, Luke helps clients share their struggles, hearing not just their words, but their fears, hopes, and potential.
Luke stands beside those who need a voice in courtrooms and medical appointments, his patience and insight have helped people find volunteering opportunities, rebuild confidence, and reconnect with community. Luke reminds us that listening isn’t passive, it’s an act of courage, of presence, and of faith in people’s ability to rise again. His story shows that when we truly listen, we help others believe in themselves.
Second Runner-up
Triband Care
For Triband Care, listening is the foundation of everything they do. Whether it’s supporting someone moving from homelessness into their first home, or simply taking time to share a cup of tea and reassurance, they meet each person with patience, kindness, and respect. The Triband team listens not to fix, but to understand, trying to adapt every plan, every visit, to the needs and wishes of the individual. Their compassion reaches those other care organisations might turn away: people experiencing homelessness, addiction, and complex disadvantage.
Nominations commented that they go where some others won’t, into temporary accommodation, onto the streets bringing warmth, care, and hope.Their clients describe them as “a rock,” “a lifeline,” and “friends for life.” They listen without judgement, advocate tirelessly, and remind everyone they support that they matter. Triband Care shows us that when listening is guided by genuine empathy, no one is beyond reach and every life deserves to be heard.
Learning
Learning is what happens when listening becomes understanding and understanding becomes change. The Learning Award celebrates those who turn insight into action. People and teams who don’t just hear what needs to change, but take the brave steps to make it happen. They test, adapt, and improve, guided by the lived experiences of the people they serve. Their work challenges assumptions, reshapes services, and builds systems that truly respond to human need. They remind us that progress isn’t found in grand gestures, but in the willingness to learn, to do better, because we now know better. These nominees show us how learning, done with heart, transforms lives and communities.
Winner
The Growth Project
Out of listening came learning and out of learning, The Growth Project was born.
In Sheffield, this pioneering service works alongside women who have experienced the heartbreak of child removal. Guided by their voices and their lived experience, the team designed a service unlike any other in the UK, offering not only homes and psychological support, but legal advocacy, understanding, and hope.
Every element, from recruitment to training, has been co-produced with the women themselves. When they said one child’s removal was pain enough, the service changed its criteria. When they said legal advice was missing, a specialist solicitor was brought in.
Today, The Growth Project challenges stigma, shares learning with other professionals, and provides a safe, continuous space for women to rebuild their lives. Fourteen women housed, supported, and empowered, but countless others inspired. Through compassion and courage, The Growth Project shows how listening, when truly learned from, can transform the system itself.
First Runner-up
BAC O’Connor
At BAC O’Connor, learning begins with listening and leads to meaningful change.
When feedback revealed that people with opioid dependency were leaving treatment early, the team didn’t see a statistic, they heard a story. They spoke with clients and staff, looked at every detail, and learned that for some, the therapy programme came too soon after detox.
So they adapted. With empathy and courage, BAC O’Connor changed their approach, introducing flexibility and compassion into the early weeks of treatment, giving people permission to rest, to recover, and to engage when ready.
The results speak for themselves: higher completion rates, fewer early discharges, and people feeling seen, supported, and understood. It’s a testament to the power of learning that listens and to a team who know that lasting recovery starts not with rules, but with understanding. BAC O’Connor shows that when we turn insight into action, lives and systems, can truly change.
Second Runner-up
Unlimited Potential
At Unlimited Potential, learning starts with listening and grows into lasting change. Led by a cooperative of local people, this social enterprise works with communities to tackle the toughest social and economic challenges and to turn their insights into real transformation. From neighbourhoods in Salford to the halls of parliament, their work is shaping how services, councils, and national bodies think, plan, and act.
Through projects like Elephants Trail, Dadly Does It, and Positive Masculinity, they empower people to tell their own stories, changing not only perceptions, but systems. Their Homes project gave young parents a voice in housing strategy, while Live Well Hubs put local people at the heart of wellbeing across Greater Manchester.With compassion, courage, and creativity, Unlimited Potential reminds us that learning from lived experience is not a slogan, it’s a movement. When communities lead the way, better systems follow.
Leading
Leadership isn’t about titles or hierarchy. It’s about standing alongside others, sharing what you’ve learned, and helping people discover their own power. The Leading Award honours those who are shaping the future of services through collaboration, courage, and conviction. These nominees place lived experience at the centre, ensuring that change is not only made for people, but with them. They set a benchmark for others to follow, showing that leadership can be generous, inclusive, and grounded in humanity. Because when we lead by lifting others, we build systems and communities that are stronger, wiser, and kinder.
Winner
Changing Futures Plymouth
Peer Research Network (Improving Lives Plymouth)
At Changing Futures Plymouth, leadership doesn’t sit at the top, it grows from lived experience.
The Peer Research Network was co-designed from the very beginning with people who have faced multiple disadvantage. Every stage, from job descriptions to recruitment and delivery, was built around inclusion, trust, and psychological safety.
Today, the peer researchers are shaping how the city listens, learns, and leads. They’ve created trauma-informed toolkits for recruitment and commissioning, ensuring that services and systems truly reflect the realities of people’s lives. Their work has inspired a new city-wide community of practice, over fifty HR leaders learning from their approach. For those once excluded from opportunity, this has been life-changing, discovering confidence, purpose, and their own source of power.
Through courage, collaboration, and insight, Changing Futures Plymouth, Peer Research Network is redefining leadership itself, showing that the most powerful change happens when lived experience leads the way.
First Runner-up
Salford Poverty Truth Commission
Since 2017, the Salford Poverty Truth Commission has been redefining what leadership looks like. It begins not in boardrooms, but in community rooms, where people with lived experience of poverty sit side by side with decision-makers to listen, learn, and lead together. Each three-year commission builds trust through honest conversation, exploring what life in poverty really means, and finding new ways to act together. The results have been extraordinary:
Salford City Council changed how it communicates about debt, ending the use of bailiffs and saving millions while offering genuine support. Other task groups have inspired Salford Mad Pride, new youth inclusion projects, and creative resources for families and children. For those involved, the experience has been life-changing, new friendships, new confidence, and a stronger voice in shaping their city. The Salford Poverty Truth Commission shows that true leadership isn’t about power, it’s about sharing it, and helping others find their own.
Second Runner-up
Saul Hewish
Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation)
For more than thirty years, Saul Hewish has led through listening, creativity, and courage. As Director of Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation), he has built spaces where people with experience of the criminal justice system can be seen, heard, and valued. Through drama, writing, and performance, Saul helps people tell their own stories, not as offenders, but as human beings with insight, complexity, and strength.
His projects, from Punishment Acts to In Plain Sight, co-created with Expert Citizens and B-Arts, challenge the way we think about justice, forgiveness, and change. In prisons and communities, Saul’s work restores dignity, confidence, and connection, helping people discover their own power to shape new futures. His leadership extends far beyond the stage: teaching, mentoring, and influencing how the arts can transform rehabilitation. With empathy and integrity, Saul Hewish has shown that real leadership is not about control, t’s about creating space for others to find their voice, and be truly heard.
