You’re here to shift power - not tick boxes.

Welcome to a learning community for people working to shift power in decision-making. So that nothing about us is decided without us.

The programme materials are your real-life challenges, the content is co-created by the group, the facilitator is a fellow practitioner

What is Shift Circle?

It’s a facilitated, online peer learning programme for people shifting decision-making in social justice organisations - away from tokenistic and hierarchical, towards participatory and community-led.

Each Shift Circle brings together a small group of peers who commit to learning together over time. As a Circle you will establish a balance of support and challenge so you can honestly reflect on your practice, consult on each other’s challenges, and plan action.

Together, you will build collective power to show what meaningful participation really looks like.

Who is it for?

Shift Circle is for people committed to transforming organisations so that people most affected by decisions aren’t just consulted but truly listened to, valued, and given space to lead.

The programme is for you if…

  • You are working to centre lived experience in your organisation’s decision-making

  • You want to reflect on your practice, work through challenges, and learn from others

  • You are ready to challenge yourself and your organisation to shift culture and share power

  • You understand the value of participation when it’s done well — and the harm when it isn’t

  • You want to connect with others doing this work, and learn from what's already working

  • You know participation needs to be a long-term approach, not a one-off project

Each Shift Circle is selected as a group, not just individuals.

For each Shift Circle to be transformative for everyone involved, it needs to bring together a mix of peers with enough in common to connect, and enough difference to challenge and grow each other’s thinking.

That means recruitment is relational - first through a contact form and chance to ask questions, followed by an Expression of Interest, price proposal and intro call.

This will help each Shift Circle to be built as a committed collective, not just a group of individuals.

Through the programme we’ll name and challenge the characteristics of white supremacy culture that often show up in this work, and draw on practices that reconnect us — to ourselves, each other, and the values and injustices that drive us.

Like any participation, this programme will only be meaningful if it’s inclusive, accessible, and rooted in equity and justice.

  • If you have lived experience of oppression, injustice or marginalisation, you are especially welcome — this space is for you.

  • If you do not have experience of oppression, injustice or marginalisation, you are also welcome as long as you:

    • are actively working to centre lived experience in your organisation’s decision-making and culture, and;

    • have a commitment to anti-oppressive practice.

Why does it matter?

Shift how decisions get made, together Recognise your role in shifting power Replace tokenism with building collective power Learn from real practice — yours and others’ Be honest about the challenges you face Take action together across the sector

This is about shifting power — not ticking boxes.

Increasingly, ‘participation’, ‘co-production’ and ‘lived experience’ are being used as buzz words for tokenistic and extractive ways of involving communities. But it’s not enough to use these words without really listening to what’s being said and changing how decisions are made.

Tokenism might pass as participation to some, but it further alienates people who’ve already been excluded and marginalised. It doesn’t disrupt inequality - it deepens it.

But it’s not all bad. There are organisations already leading with lived experience, challenging power structures, and embedded in communities. The problem is, it’s difficult to learn from this good practice because it’s hard to connect with others to share the reality of this work - not just success stories that hide the process.

Shift Circle is a response to that.

Reflective practice, Organisational development, Collective power building

How does it work?

Shift Circle blends personal, organisational and collective development.

Each Shift Circle brings together 6–8 peers online for 9 months. Over this time members will learn as individuals, inform their organisation’s practice, and build better collective cross-sector knowledge.

The programme starts with a group co-design session, after which you’ll meet online for a full morning each month - each time bringing live challenges from your work.

Through Action Learning and other facilitated peer learning processes you will work through these challenges together, helping you to:

  • Reflect on and deepen your existing participatory practice

  • Learn from others’ experiences and ideas to bring back to your organisation

  • Build greater collective wisdom and power around what meaningful and equitable participation really looks like in your sector (whether that’s charity, arts & culture, health & social care, education, or the public sector).

  • Commitment for the whole programme is important to make it meaningful for everyone taking part. Below is an overview of what to expect over the 9 months being part of a Shift Circle.

    Co-creation workshop

    We begin with a collaborative session to get to know each other, share priorities and personal learning goals, try out methods to see what works for you as a group, and co-design how you want your Shift Circle to work.

    Six core sessions

    Over the next six months you’ll spend a morning together each month, bringing live challenges from your work to reflect, ask questions, offer insights, and explore new approaches so you can move from insight to action, grounded in your own and each other’s experience. Throughout we will keep records of what we’re learning so that we can share outside the Shift Circle.

    Final gathering

    After the six core sessions we will have a final gathering to reflect on what’s shifted — for you, as a group and your work. You’ll plan the legacy and next steps of your learning for you individually, within your organisations, and as a collective.

    • Action Learning – using exploratory questions to tackle complex, live challenges and plan next steps.

    • Thinking Councils – creating space for silent reflection before responding to key dilemmas.

    • Wicked Questions x Deep Democracy Debates – exploring polarities and tensions to move beyond binary thinking.

    • Schwartz Rounds – reflecting together on moments from practice that were challenging, emotional, or unresolved.

    • Troika Consulting – rotating roles to offer ideas and perspectives on each other’s real-time issues.

    • Creative & Embodied Practices – written, embodied, or creative responses to deepen personal reflection.

  • Be part of a small group of 6-8 peers

    Together you will reflect, share and learn to transform your practice and influence your organisations.

  • Co-design your Shift Circle

    Explore what you want to learn, set shared expectations and decide flow and focus.

  • Spend a morning together monthly

    Each time you’ll bring live challenges to work through with open questioning and group consulting.

  • Learn online over 9 months

    Monthly sessions will be online, with the option of an in-person gathering if it’s right for the group.

Meet your facilitator

Theo Cadbury is a peer learning facilitator and participation consultant with extensive experience developing and facilitating participatory approaches in grassroots local, regional, national and international organisations.

Since 2021 her main focus has been facilitating training and peer learning to support people wanting to embed more meaningful and equitable participation in their organisational culture - because to shift power, we all need to learn to do things differently.

Theo’s approach draws on models including sociocracy and Deep Democracy, Action Learning, Thinking Environment and Indigenous learning circles, as well as her own experiences as a queer person, growing up in youth-led Jewish and interfaith spaces, and being from a mixed heritage family.

Shift Circle pricing

Shift Circle uses a sliding scale to make the programme accessible and sustainable, without relying on grants.

Cost should never be a barrier.

We’ll work together to find an amount that is accessible, reflects your organisation’s resources, and honours your commitment to the programme - while also making it feasible to run. If your organisation can’t pay, you will not be expected to contribute individually.

This model allows those with more resources to contribute more, helping create a more equitable and diverse learning community, while also ensuring the programme is self-sustaining.

Are you a funder?
If you’re interested in sponsoring a place for someone from a grassroots group, get in touch.

Interested in Shift Circle for your organisation?
If you want to commission a Shift Circle for your organisation only, get in touch.

Pricing guide

The numbers below are just a guide. The amount will be agreed between each participant and the facilitator, based on your organisation’s context and the information you share in your expression of interest.

  • Suggested range: £100 – £500 per participant
    For grassroots or volunteer-led groups.

  • Suggested range: £500 – £1,000 per participant
    For small charities and community organisations with some funding.

  • Suggested range: £1,000 – £1,500 per participant
    For mid-sized organisations with stable annual income, salaried staff and programme budgets.

  • Suggested range: £1,500 – £3,000 per participant
    For larger or national organisations, well known major charities, large institutions, NGOs or public bodies.

    For organisations with several £million turnover, the price suggested will be at the upper end of the range.

If you’re not sure about joining a full Shift Circle just yet, you can still join our community workshops. 

Once the first Shift Circle starts in Autumn 2025, we’ll start hosting a series of community workshops. These are for anyone looking to explore participation and shifting power together, but who’s not quite ready for the full Shift Circle programme.

Shift Circle is an independent programme, being run with advice and support from the Co-Production Collective at UCL

  • “Theo didn't just create a program about decision-making power, they put their principles into action by holding focus groups and really listening to potential participants needs, ideas, and suggestions into practice. That is co-creation!”

    – Molly, participant in programme design workshop

  • “I’m excited about the quality of conversations we can have as a collective and the impact this can have for the organisations we support and for my own personal development, building connections and to feel less alone. "

    – Bep, participant in programme design workshop

  • "Theo helped build champions of participation across the organisation, including the most senior decision-makers. The learning programme she developed did not just raise awareness; it fostered a genuine commitment to embedding lived experience in all of our work.”

    Lived Experience Strategy Lead at Macmillan (previous client)

  • "Theo is a skilled facilitator and is very knowledgeable about participation. She has supported us on our journey to embed participation as an approach in our work, and her practice is rooted in a keen sense of social justice and solidarity with those experiencing systemic injustice."

    – Head of Participation at Trussell (current client)