The Positive News Podcast

What if every child had the chance to move, play and thrive – no matter their ability? 
In the first episode of The Purpose Pioneers, the new podcast series from Positive News, we meet Stephanie Wheen, CEO and founder of Gympanzees – a groundbreaking organisation creating the UK’s first fully inclusive exercise and play centre for disabled children and young people.
More than one in 10 children in the UK are disabled, yet most are still excluded from mainstream leisure centres, sports facilities and play spaces. Gympanzees exists to change that reality. Located near Bristol, the space is designed from the ground up for children with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities, while also welcoming siblings, friends and carers.
In this conversation with Positive News’ Sarah LaBrecque, Stephanie reflects on three defining moments in her journey – from growing up with a disabled brother, to the turning point where frustration transformed into action, and the joyful breakthrough that showed inclusive spaces can change lives.
She talks through the practical steps that turned an idea into a viable, values-led organisation, alongside the challenges of building something new within existing systems and the rewards of seeing children gain independence and confidence through movement and play.
The episode explores what it takes to turn purpose into action, and how thoughtful design, ethical finance and long-term thinking can help create spaces where everyone belongs.

The Purpose Pioneers is a new podcast series from Positive News about the journey of turning ideals into action. 

Producer: Simon Elliott, Crowdfindervideo
Host and story editor: Sarah LaBrecque
Series editor: Tom Pattinson
Production lead: Pauline Milligan
Executive producer: Sean Wood

The Purpose Pioneers is sponsored by Triodos Bank.

Subscribe to the Positive News email newsletter: www.positive.news/letter

The final episode in our first series takes you to Zimbabwe to learn about a project that is beautifully simple, but whose impact is being felt far beyond Harare where it began.

Seyi and Radha meet Professor Dixon Chibanda, a classically trained psychiatrist who, following the tragic death of a client by suicide, was inspired to take psychiatry out of the hospital and in to the community. There, a group of local grandmothers convinced him to set up the Friendship Bench project, where people receive counselling and advice from CBT-trained grandmothers, all while sitting on a park bench. A woman called Jenny Muzoma tells her own story of hardship, for which she’s been receiving counselling from Mrs Nhengo.

Developing Mental Wealth is a six-part series about community-based solutions to mental health issues, in parts of the world where circumstances can be the most challenging. The series is funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator. This fund is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Series one is over for now, but subscribe to the Positive News email newsletter to continue your weekly fix of uplifting news about what’s going right: www.positive.news/letter

Producer: Anna Staufenberg
Executive Producer: Samantha Psyk
Mixing & sound design: Anna Staufenberg

If you’re affected by the issues covered in this episode, in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected].

For more information on The Friendship Bench, go to https://www.friendshipbenchzimbabwe.org
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Seyi and Radha take you to Lagos in Nigeria, where sharp increases in heat and flooding have put the city – the largest in Africa – on the frontline of the climate crisis. They discover the Zen Café, which has recently been set up to support those struggling with eco-anxiety, and hear how the project has created a space for concerned citizens to come together and make sense of what’s happening to the world around them.

They meet Svetlana Chigozie Onye and Ayomide Olude from SustyVibes, the organisation which set up The Eco-anxiety in Africa Project (TEAP), and Ihuoma, a cafe attendee.

Developing Mental Wealth is a six-part series about community-based solutions to mental health issues, in parts of the world where circumstances can be the most challenging. The series is funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator. This fund is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Subscribe to the Positive News email newsletter: www.positive.news/letter

Producer: Anna Staufenberg
Executive Producer: Samantha Psyk
Mixing & sound design: Anna Staufenberg

If you’re affected by the issues covered in this episode, in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected].

For more information on SustyVibes and The Ecoanxiety in Africa Project, go to https://www.teap.sustyvibes.org.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Radha and Seyi are taking you to Guatemala this week, a mountainous country in Central America where almost half of the population has Indigenous roots. They discover a project called Buena Semilla, which is using women’s circles to empower Indigenous groups and reconnect them with traditional Mayan concepts of wellbeing.

They meet the founder, Anne Marie Chomat, and local project coordinator, Sadi Garcia. Sadi, who has Mayan K’iche’ origins, is one of the people who leads the circles, which reach more than 300 women across Guatemala every week.

Developing Mental Wealth is a six-part series about community-based solutions to mental health issues, in parts of the world where circumstances can be the most challenging. The series is funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator. This fund is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Subscribe to the Positive News email newsletter: www.positive.news/letter

Producer: Anna Staufenberg
Executive Producer: Samantha Psyk
Mixing & sound design: Anna Staufenberg

If you’re affected by the issues covered in this episode, in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected].

For more information on Buena Semilla, go to buena-semilla.org.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Radha and Seyi are back on the African continent this week, in Johannesburg. They travel to South Africa’s biggest city to learn about a narrative therapy technique called the Tree of Life, which has been so successful it’s now used in more than 40 countries.

They meet the creator of the Tree of Life approach, Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo, who founded an organisation called Phola, and a woman whose life she changed forever, Winny Mangani.

Developing Mental Wealth is a six-part series about community-based solutions to mental health issues, in parts of the world where circumstances can be the most challenging. The series is funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator. This fund is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Subscribe to the Positive News email newsletter: www.positive.news/letter

Producer: Anna Staufenberg
Executive Producer: Samantha Psyk
Mixing & sound design: Anna Staufenberg

If you’re affected by the issues covered in this episode, in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected].

For more information on Phola, go to www.phola.org.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.