In this article, Jo Lorenz, Chief Officer at St. Michael’s Youth Project, shares how The Rank Foundation’s ‘The Change We Lead’ EDI programme created a space where trust allowed people to be open, reflect honestly, and learn from one another.
I signed up to The Rank Foundation’s Change We Lead EDI programme because the world is a very complex place at the moment. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at how to do my bit, how to concentrate on what I can control, and what I can’t.
I wanted a place to have honest and open conversations about ‘difference’ without being judged negatively. How can I help others, if I don’t understand or I’m not more aware myself? I want to make people feel valued and welcome, whoever we are, and I needed a ‘safe space’ to do that.
Now, almost halfway through The Change We Lead Programme, I’ve found myself coming back to one thing that has been the foundation: trust. Not just as an idea, but as something you can feel and know if it isn’t there.
As a youth worker, building trust is something I already understand as central to my practice. But this programme has given me the space to step back and really reflect on it, how it is built, how it is maintained, and how easily it can be lost if we don’t mean it.
What’s changed?
It has made me think differently about the environments I help create. Not just who is in the room, but how that space feels for people. Whether they feel able to be themselves, to speak honestly, and to be heard. Because that doesn’t happen automatically.
The programme has created space for conversations that aren’t always easy. Conversations about difference, identity, inequality, and the realities people carry with them into their roles and communities. These aren’t topics you can rush, and they’re not ones people usually share easily.
It has helped us build trust. As a group, we seemed to naturally allow it; for me, it has felt like ‘the space’ was something we all understood we needed. To ask questions, be curious, confused, and uncertain – and this was okay. For people to begin speaking more openly, sharing experiences that might otherwise remain unsaid. To listen properly, even when perspectives differ. That’s where the real depth and understanding have come from.
Our sessions have explored ‘difference’ in a way that has stayed with me. None of us fits neatly into one box. We are all a mix of backgrounds, experiences, strengths, struggles and perspectives. Trust sits underneath it all. It is what allows honest conversations to happen. It is what makes space for challenge without shutting people down. And it is what turns a group of people into something more connected and open.
What has really made the difference for me is the way those spaces were created. The way we were introduced to each other at the start, the activities that helped us to explore things together, set the tone for future conversations. Everyone being honest about what they want. There has been a consistency to it, showing up together, taking time, and being given permission to reflect as well as speak. I don’t think it would work any other way.
The Brave Space sessions haven’t avoided challenge but have shown that challenge can sit alongside respect and care. Allowing yourself to trust can make you feel vulnerable, so this balance has mattered.
This programme hasn’t introduced something completely new, but it has deepened it. It has given me time to reflect, to notice, and to strengthen something that sits at the heart of what I do. It is something I have been more conscious of in my day-to-day practice, being more intentional about how space is held, how conversations are facilitated, and how people are supported to show up as themselves.
What’s next?
I have shared the outcomes of the discussions with my team. We don’t have all of the answers, but it has given us confidence to feel we can ask questions and allow others to explore in a safe way, too. These conversations around difference have actually helped to demonstrate how alike people are, which has been valuable.
If we are serious about creating spaces that are inclusive and equitable, trust isn’t something we can assume will be there. It is something we must build, hold, and protect.
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