Gillian Straine is a remarkable woman, who has a physics pHd, then became a priest and now runs a charity that is exploring how churches can create health. As the healthcare system in the UK faces more strain, she sees congregations as vital way we can create wellbeing. On top of that, she's great company, which means she's pretty much our ideal guest.

What we found particularly thought-provoking was the rich and progressive way she viewed health. Health isn't just not being sick, but being able to really flourish and grow as part of a society that is healthy. Her theology has led her to a definition of health that is totally aligned with that of many innovators in the healthcare space today.

In this podcast she speaks about the charity that she leads, how she helps local vicars see their work through a healthcare lens, her struggle within the church and much else besides.

You can follow her on Twitter @gillianstraine

Lifefulness Project

Interviewing Gillian is part of our work at The Lifefulness Project to create a new science of secular and inclusive congregations. We believe the lessons from spiritual communities and congregations can be adapted in a way that can be applied in an organisation or community, or an individual's life.

We are dedicated to building community online which leads to connection online, and we do that through our small groups. You can become a member here.

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We love Dean Burnett: neuroscientist, comedian, author, journalist and general spreader of wisdom. On the pod we talk to him about the neuroscience of grief, which became a major focus when he lost his father to Covid

Hearing how he had to say goodbye over the phone to his unconscious Dad will leave you in bits (or at least it got to me). What makes Dean such a great guest is that he can switching between exploring the deep pain, to discussing a key academic finding, and then he'll throw in a joke.

We discuss:

• Socially distant funerals
• The importance of funerals in grieving
• The power of grief journals
• The death of Robin Williams
• Separating science writing from politics

More about Dean:

Dean Burnett is a Welsh neuroscientist and author. He is best known for writing the book ‘The Idiot Brain’, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Goodreads Best Science & Technology Book Award. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages.

He began his writing career as a result of his satirical science column ‘Brain Flapping‘ at the Guardian, which ran from 2012 to 2018 which was the most read on the Guardian science network, with over 15 million views since 2012. The blog now runs at the Cosmic Shambles network.

Lifefulness Community

We always talk about the Lifefulness Community because that is what we're all about. The next intake of Lifefulness Small Groups is open now.

Thanks so much for listening!

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In 2013 Sunday Assembly launched, it was a new movement of non-religious congregations that spread across the world. Today we interview Dr. Josh Bullock who wrote his pHd on the sociology of Sunday Assembly through in-depth interviews with members and participants.

The interview is a fascinating deep dive into a truly pioneering organisation which I should mention, I co-founded. In a world (oooh, that sounds very movie trailer-esque) where division, polarisation, atomisation and meaninglessness prowl in rosebushes, the questions that are being asked and answered in Sunday Assembly are vital.

In this interview we really dive into who attends Sunday Assembly, why do people join these communities, who is the 'average' attendee, why is the congregation so white, and much else besides.

Josh's phd: https://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/id/eprint/41775/

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