held is a partnership of facilitators, culture creators, and practitioners building a world liberated from oppressive systems, dynamics, and relationships.

what we do

we hold people, organisations and movements to build relational skills and cultural practices rooted in collective liberation.

how we can support you.

Learn liberatory ways to approach your culture and relationships

Are your cultures and relationships fit for the work you want to do in the world?

Too often the organisations we need the most are the ones being undermined by ways of being that divide rather than unite.

We provide learning that supports groups and teams to explore themes of conflict, power, identity, difference, oppression and anti-oppression in their cultures and relationships, and to develop the skills and practices for the world they want to create.

Attend to conflict and difficult conversations

Is there a conversation you really need to have but don’t know how to?

Before issues escalate to the point of grievance or formal processes (or even after), we hold spaces where pairs, small groups and teams can have the conversations they need to have.

This might include exploring difficult working dynamics or relationships, addressing current issues of tension or conflict, or processing and healing from ones in the past.

Facilitate meaningful moments that matter

Not all time away is time well spent, and yet that time can be critical for clarity, connection and possibility.

We work with you to create meaningful moments that cut through confusion, resist avoidance, and pay attention to what needs to be done.

We design and hold single and multi-day retreats and convenings where groups gather, connect, differ and clarify what they’re up to in the world.

Leadership for collective liberation

We believe the world needs more leaders practiced in the skills of collective liberation.

Leaders who set boundaries without building walls. Leaders who bridge across difference, who practice generative conflict. Leaders who build life affirming worlds.

We respond to this call for leadership through advisory work, speaking engagements and our personal practice. We also develop other leaders with coaching and 1-2-1 support.

"In order to generate a future in which we all know we can belong, be human, and be held, we must build life-affirming institutions, including our movements."

— adrienne marie brown

how we came to be.

Held was formed when Priya Ghai, Vanessa Faloye, and Alexander Lyons came together to hold space for one another after years of work as anti-oppression consultants, facilitators and learning designers. In that space, we grappled with how to address oppression in our work and ourselves, and practice more responsible ways of being together.

Together, we found the words to name things that had been on the tips of our tongues for years - the ideas and behaviours tearing us apart rather than bringing us together. We got clearer about what it is we want to build in the world, and found joy in learning how to do that together.

In 2020, we decided to hold that space for others.

Testimonials

  • “This is a gratitude to the Held team. These sessions have deeply modelled and moved away from the often divisive ways that the identity politics movement often results in - towards new ways that we can co-exist and collaborate, with deep honesty and self-reflection about the different power and privilege we each hold, or marginalisation we experience and our problematic behaviours - while keeping central that we are each humans and that to build connection, understanding and different, better realities we have to keep connection, humanness, respect and humility at the heart.

    This feels like a really different approach and I’ve felt it modelled throughout the trainings so thank you all for that.”

    - Session participant

  • “Held were brilliant facilitators, who read the room letting things emerge but keeping a clear vision. They brought strength and joy into the space and navigated us gracefully throughout the days.”

    Katya Dumont, BMW Foundation

  • “From the first meeting, I knew that Held would be brilliant to work with. Their deep, knowledgeable approach of ensuring they properly got to know Young Roots, and fully understood the issues that are particular to us was impressive. On a personal level, I definitely felt 'held' by Vanessa, Alex, and Priya, and this was true for the whole organisation too. They were a joy to work with, were responsive, honest and had the best interests of Young Roots at the centre of their work.  I have recommended Held to many different organisations already, and I will continue to do so.”

    Jo Cobley, Chief Executive, Young Roots

  • “It really was fantastic working with Held. The process worked really well and has opened up a really healthy and honest way of communicating with each other since then. The sessions themselves felt truly transformative – the space you held for us, the insight you brought into our conversations, and the firm but gentle challenge you gave us to think/act bravely, beyond our current system. We're really feeling the impact of all the work we have done together.”

    Lucy Williams, Learning Design Consultant, LearnJam

  • “Over several months Held worked with us to explore our motivations and where we come from as individuals in relation to this work, and then applied this in context. The dedicated time, and safe space provided by the Held team, allowed us to get into this meaningfully which was incredibly valuable to our team. Held encouraged us to build our confidence to understand and be able to discuss issues of ED&I in an open, curious, and empathetic way. Thank you Held!”

    Louise, a participant on our EDI programming

  • “Held provided Capital Enterprise with a snapshot of how we are doing on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I). Their approach was sensitive, measured and professional and the guide they produced is rigorous and robust. They used their vast knowledge and experience to help us to reflect on how we can transform our approach to DE&I and provided some tangible options and recommendations for next steps. If you’re serious about doing the deep internal work needed to affect change, I cannot recommend them highly enough.”

    — Alison Partridge, Managing Director, Capital Enterprise

  • “It really was fantastic working with Held. The sessions themselves felt truly transformative – the space you held for us, the insight you brought into our conversations, and the firm but gentle challenge you gave us to think/act bravely, beyond our current system. We're really feeling the impact of all the work we have done together.”

    - Session participant

contact us.

If you’d like to know more about us, our approach, and how we might work with you, feel free to drop us a brief message using our contact form and we’ll get back to you.