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Fellowship From Sunny Australia to Chilly UK!

Disembarking at Glasgow airport, I’m wrapping up my unreal Westpac Social Change Fellowship adventure from sunny Melbourne to a very chilly UK.


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First stop was The Children's Trust mansion, hosted by Dr Jenny Jim, with Gemma Costello, Dr Sharon Buckland (Child Brain Injury Trust), Dr Katie Byard, Laura Arkless (Recolo UK Ltd) and young lived‑expert superstars - sharing Genyus Foundation Ltd's peer‑led “Life After” work and imagining brighter pathways. Did someone say “Baby Genyus”??? 🤣


Next, Nick Ward, Fran Brander and Kate Kelly at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Queen Square welcomed me to present our peer‑led innovation alongside their upper‑limb rehab work. I also connected with Lucinda Jarrett (Dr.) (Rosetta Life) & Aussie artist Sarah-Mace Dennis to begin dreaming a creative, international, lived-experience-led story‑sharing project.

All while travelling with invisible challenges – diplopia, nystagmus, astigmatism and balance dysfunction – in a European winter with ~6 hours of daylight. I’ve had to practise radical self‑advocacy: clearly disclosing access needs and asking for help in stations, streets and castles...oh my!



Then up to FROSTY Aberdeen for UK Stroke Forum 2025, where I co‑created a peer‑led plenary with Stacie Broek, Saran Chamberlain and Linda Hanlin – using my SAFE model of care as the lens for how we told our stories of safety after stroke. SAFE is a Genyus framework I’ve been evolving and presenting across Australia, the US and the UK for many years, and it was amazing to see it hold space in a room of such stature.



My #UKSF25 heroes Jon Roe and Anna Blount (and the wider Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and Stroke Association teams, including Jane-Claire Judson) kept peer voices front and centre with such strong leadership throughout. I bounced with Aussie allies Elizabeth Lynch, Katie Nesbitt, Kate Hayward, Leeanne Carey and Liana Cahill, and deepened ties with like-minded long‑distance legends Sarah Belson, Clare Roberts, Jennifer Crow, Simon Harris, Angelina Kancheva, Felicity Bright, Louise Connell and more in the comments. Extra love to my legendary lass Lisa Kidd, instrumental in connecting so many of these dots.



Major highlights were finally sitting down with strategic allies Austin Willett (Different Strokes Charity - Support for Working Age Stroke Survivors UK) and Jenny Clarke (SameYou) after many months of planning… WATCH THIS SPACE!



Underpinning this is the Genyus ethos: peer‑led, specific, affirming, fun and engaging spaces where survivors, support crew and allies co‑create “Life After” together – the glue that gave me two winters in one year with a whole lot of hopeful, helpful humans.


 
 
 

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