Episode 7: Changing the Trajectory of Children’s Lives, w/ Andrez Harriott
Have you ever wondered how differently your life might have unfolded if you had made different choices, had different mentors or influences, or been given a different type of support?
Our lives are mysterious things. They unfold, often in ways we cannot predict or imagine. Quoting the poet Tomas Tranströmer, Cheryl Strayed once wrote that “Every life ‘has a sister ship,’ one that follows ‘quite another route’ than the one we ended up taking. We want it to be otherwise, but it cannot be: the people we might have been live a different, phantom life than the people we are…” She goes on to say that we’ll never know about this sister life, full of all the things that could have been.
The trajectory our lives take, and the forces and factors that influence them, is the subject of this week’s conversation with the phenomenal Andrez Harriott. As the founder and CEO of The Liminality Group, Andrez’s work centres on changing the trajectory of the lives of children who are most at risk of becoming involved in criminality whilst working with those currently in the system. He is also a member of the British R&B band, Damage, who have sold over 2 million singles and albums worldwide.
This, quite frankly, is an unmissable episode. One that will make you think differently about how we perceive and make sense of children who offend and the responsibility we all have to support them to be able to make different choices.
In this episode, Andrez and Elloa discuss:
The work of The Liminality Group, including why Andrez and his team take 10 boys to Scotland and the Lake District in a tour bus
How his experience of being in Damage, a band that's sold 2 million singles and albums, influences his work with children at risk of criminality
His experience of coming into this work with a 'hero mindset' and what changed for him
What he sees as the primary task of the prison system
How he contains the emotions this kind of work brings up, and how he practices and models self-care
The degree to which he has hope.
Listen on Apple Podcasts here, on Stitcher here, on Google Play here, and on Spotify here.
Find out more about Andrez's work and The Liminality Group here:
Connect with Andrez on LinkedIn
The Liminality Group's website (currently under construction)
TLG on Instagram
Microscope Consultancy on Instagram
Brathay Lodge in The Lake District
Adverse Childhood Experiences - see here, for example
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Email Elloa: theheardspace@gmail.com
Connect with Elloa on LinkedIn.