Beyond The Dark Clouds Podcast Episode Thirty Six : Barbara Best

Beyond The Dark Clouds Podcast Episode Fourty : Charli Kemp

Charli Kemp, Ed.L.D is the Adrian Cheng Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. She is also the founder of ‘Change the Tune’ and had designed an innovative way of engaging learning through their own music genres and learning styles. Charli speaks to Dr Mealey about her values-driven approach to learning, entrepreneurship and the use of AI.  She discusses ways of working with learners that engages them fully in understanding the ‘why?’ of specific subject disciplines.

Beyond The Dark Clouds Podcast Episode Thirty Nine : Inês Medeiros

Inês is a psychologist with specializations in Positive Psychology, the Science of Self-Realization, and Wellbeing. With over 20 years of experience across Brazil, Latin America, and Europe, she works as a humandevelopment consultant and senior leadership coach, with a strong focus on cultural transformation,conscious leadership, and organizational well-being. Her practice is recognized for positively impacting C-level leaders and executive teams in multinationalcompanies and organizations across diverse sectors, including: Financial Markets and Insurance | Industry, Logistics and Package | Healthcare and Services | Educationand the Third Sector. She is a certified Evolutionary Coach in the Barrett Model, Values-Based Coaching (Simon Dolan),Psychological Safety (Timothy Clark), and by the Jungian Coaching School International, under thementorship of Dr. Avi Goren-Bar and Master Trainer Accountability Circles (Bcon). Inês is the founder of Values Move, a consultancy specialized in systemic transformation with a focus onpurpose-driven leadership and regenerative organizational culture. She serves as a Global Partner &Trainer at the Barrett Values Center®, and is internationally recognized for her work in training leadersand consultants in the Barrett Cultural Transformation Model. A Fearless Organization Practitioner (Amy Edmondson) and a facilitator of systemic change processesthrough TransformAction, Inês combines advanced methodologies with human sensitivity, building bridgesbetween strategy, culture, and values. Additionally, she is a founding member of Values 20 (V20) — an official G20 engagement group focused onvalue-based public policy — and served as Chair of V20 Brazil in 2024. Ines talks to Dr Mealey about all things ‘values’: values move, the Values 20 group, her research and to hope for the future of the work she leads across the world.

Beyond The Dark Clouds Podcast Episode Thirty Seven : Lord Syed Kamall

Syed Kamall is Professor of politics and international relations at St Mary’s University, Twickenham; Visiting Scholar at the Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham; a Member of the UK House of Lords; Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care) and co-chair of the APPG Commonwealth.Previously roles include: UK government Minister for Health; Minister for Civil Society; Academic and Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, the UK’s leading classical liberal think tank; a Member of the European Parliament (MEP); leader of the Conservative MEPs; and leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group.He regularly meets and supports neighbourhood non-state civil society organisations tackling social exclusion and improving wellbeing.In his spare time, he enjoys travelling, reading and playing guitar and electric bass in blues and rock bands. In this episode,  Lord Kamall talks to Dr Mealey about his work and his special interest in community based solutions to poverty, his hope for the role that education can play in this endeavour, and the need for us to promote more local groups that seek to be self-reliant (SRGs).  He discusses his career journey and shares his views on the need for good character education, ethical leadership and service learning as part and parcel of what society needs right now for the common good.

Beyond The Dark Clouds Podcast Episode Thirty Six : Barbara Best

Barbara Best (https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-best-6131368/) is a community organizer, youth advocate, and system change leader who is passionate about building systems of care to empower youth and communities to thrive. Guided by a north star of healthy interconnectedness, she inspires joy, purpose, and connection in the people and communities she serves. Barbara serves as Executive Director of Convu, a vibrant community that builds capacity for deep listening and peer coaching in schools, workplaces, and communities. Convu generates positive community impact in cultivating dialogue, listening, and belonging through the Harvard University Peer Coaching Initiative (HUPCI) and the Massachusetts General Hospital Peer Coaching Initiative (MGH PCI).   We’re excited to expand peer coaching in organizations and communities across sectors and create spaces for people to listen, learn, and grow together. We believe that leadership is a shared practice – and that real change starts in the quality of our conversations.   Barbara holds a Doctor in Education Leadership (EdLD) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She led a three year initiative to cultivate school and community connectedness in Reading Public Schools in Massachusetts, United States. Barbara is committed to centering compassion in leadership – to meet suffering with kindness and know that we are not alone as we work for transformation. Barabara talks to Dr Mealey about the importance of compassionate leadership, listening to create communities of belonging and a culture of nurturing and safety for future generations.

Beyond The Dark Clouds Podcast Episode Thirty Five : Dr Pam Jarvis

Pam is a chartered psychologist (British Psychological Society) and qualified teacher with additional academic qualifications in history and education. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She joined Leeds Trinity University in 2013 as a senior lecturer, and was promoted to Reader in Childhood, Youth and Education in 2016. She has a keen interest in a multi-disciplinary research perspective, considering psychological, biological, social and historical perspectives. Her PhD research focused upon play-based learning in 4-6 year olds. She is an extensively published academic author whose edited book ‘Perspectives on Play’ has been published in three successive English editions, and additionally in Greek and Portuguese (Brazil) where it was adopted as a set text by the national teacher training programme. She is also an active blogger and conference/training presenter, seeking to create accessible dissemination formats to bring insights from psychological and educational research to the attention of non-psychologist professional audiences, education professionals in particular; and to the general public. Her key focus is the well-being of children, young people and their families, and the development of social policy to support this. She completed her first degree in Psychology with The Open University while caring for her three young children, becoming a graduate psychologist in 1995, and between 1995 and 2019 taught psychology, sociology, social policy and child development in Higher Education, School, Further Education and Community Education. This includes over 20 years as an Open University tutor and resource writer. Since retiring from LTU at the end of 2019 to focus on consulting and writing projects, she has added to her academic publications and writes regularly in Bylines Network publications as a citizen journalist. She has also published 2 novels  ‘On Time’ (2021) and ‘On Time for Eco’, (2025), and is currently working on the third book in the series: ‘On Time for Love.’   Pam talks to Dr Mealey about citizen journalism and academia, her passion for ethics and values in social work and suggests an all-inclusive interpretation of psychology to shape a better context for relationships to flourish in today’s complex society.