Helping real people work together, to create real change.
We help teams, organisations and communities build capacity, navigate pressure, strengthen relationships and lead lasting change together. Using Healing-Centred Design® and Human Skills, we turn collective experience into practical transformation.
Who we help.
Real people create transformation.
Behind every organisation, system and community are people navigating real challenges. We design transformation that works in real life, with the people who live it every day. We work with leaders, teams and communities across sectors including:
- Health and care
- Education
- Local government
- Voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations
- Place-based partnerships
- Human Resources
These sectors are often navigating significant change. Whatever the challenge, we help people move beyond responding to pressure and start designing sustainable ways of working that create better outcomes for everyone.
Real-life change creates momentum.
Using Human Skills like compassion, adaptability and creativity, and our evidence-based Healing-Centred Design®, framework we help you create progress, momentum and positive impact at work.
Together we,
- Navigate increasing demand, workforce pressures, and team dynamics.
- Improve collaboration and enable meaningful involvement, redesigning services around the people who use them.
- Strengthen leadership and connect strategic direction and operational action.
Free micro-learning for busy people.
Need change quick? From one-minute emails to a 30-minute masterclass, discover our free micro-learning resources to improve teamwork.
Feedback and Testimonials.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund Leadership team:
“Enabled us to recognise the complexity in teams and programmes, and choreograph processes and ways of working to change things.”
Dr Sula Windgassen PhD MSc, Health Psychologist
“A wonderfully accessible and reassuring framework that is truly inspiring, compassionate and much needed.”
Business Development Lead, 1Point Bolton
“I used your framework and it worked brilliantly in my coaching group supervision today, using this model worked far better than the dry unimaginative models taught.”
Zoe Porter, Associate Director: Live Well & Neighbourhoods, NHS Greater Manchester
For the past 18 months, we’ve been working on how to develop a new grant fund across Greater Manchester that brings in more resources for communities and ensures that funding reaches people most affected by inequality.
This work has been a collective effort, involving many people and organisations, including 10GM and associated infrastructure organisations, NHS GM and GMCA.
I’d particularly like to thank Kerry Tottingham for her calm and positive ongoing support. Alongside the GM Systems Changers, who carried out community research, she has helped produce a detailed and thoughtful evaluation of the first year, which you can read here.
Designing Transformation.
Increase capacity.
People who are supported to develop capacity (time, energy, resources) work differently, collaborate intentionally, learn in real-time and strengthen the systems that support future progress.
We call this Designing Transformation, it’s an approach that brings together Human Skills and Healing-Centred Design® to create lasting change.
Human Skills
Human Skills strengthen the individual and relational capabilities that help people work well together. Human Skills are compassion, trust, communication, adaptability, creative thinking and conflict navigation, to create healthier relationships, stronger teams and better decisions.
Healing-Centred Design®
Healing-Centred Design® is our evidence-based transformation framework that helps people understand systems, identify patterns and redesign how work happens. Healing-Centred Design® blends trauma-informed practice with systems thinking and creative coaching to create the conditions for people, organisations and communities to learn, adapt and improve.
Joining the dots
Everything we do is designed to strengthen capacity because real change happens when real people can keep creating change without relying on external support. Together, Human Skills and Healing-Centred Design® enable and structure real change.
Strategic Collaboration
We bring people together around a shared purpose, helping partners align around a common ambition and coordinate action that no organisation could achieve alone.
Assets that Influence
We transform collective experience into practical assets such as stories, learning packs, toolkits, frameworks and resources that preserve learning and continue creating value long after a project finishes.
Infrastructure of Change
We strengthen the relationships, capabilities, shared language and ways of working that enable people, organisations and systems to continue creating positive change.
Everything we do is designed to strengthen capacity because sustainable transformation happens when people can keep creating change without relying on external support.
Systems Change Projects.
Work with Us.
Products, services and projects.
Rather than delivering one-off solutions, we intentionally design every piece of work to strengthen the capacity of people, organisations, communities and systems. Training, System and Community Projects and Learning and Development programmes are the practical application of our approach.
Human Skills at Work
Navigate change within teams and practice human skills to improve team dynamics.
Action-learning to develop,
🟠Compassion: understanding, empathy and support
🟠Trust: listening skills, collaboration, inclusion
🟠Conflict navigation: respect, challenge and alignment
🟠Adaptability: innovation, flexibility, resourcefulness
🟠Creative thinking: decision making, problem solving
Facilitation School
Learn how to facilitate participation, collaboration and change.
Practicioners, coaches + educators learn how to use,
🟠Trauma-informed approaches
🟠Creative coaching skills
🟠Collaboration tools
Trauma-Aware Teams
Develop trauma-awareness to support safety at work.
Interactive training to learn,
🟠The impact of trauma, support and safety
🟠Secondary trauma and healthy boundaries
If you are interested in finding out more, please email faye@brilliantthing.co.uk
Systems + Communities
Create and embed positive, lasting change across systems and communities.
Councils, NHS teams, local infrastructure organisations and community organisations create change with us through,
🟠Community Development
🟠Infrastructure + partnership development
🟠Codesign and coproduction
🟠Community Research
🟠Stakeholder, Impact and Value Mapping.
Power Events
Discover new ideas, inspiring stories and practical action at our regular events.
🟠Event highlights! 2026 Event | 2025 Event
🟠Monthly wellbeing socials and retreats for deep work. Retreats + Gatherings
Interested? Email us at faye@brilliantthing.co.uk
Workshops + Programmes
Reduce pressure, strengthen teams and build sustainable performance.
🟠Bespoke workshops and awaydays to step out of day-to-day urgency and focus on the bigger picture.
🟠The Brilliant Workplace strengthens your leadership strategy + culture.
🟠The Brilliant Club supports your team’s wellbeing + performance.
Human Skills Network
Build relationships and momentum to influence change with a professional learning community.
🟠Learning Circles
🟠Speaker opportunities
🟠Transformation Toolkit
Tools + Resources
Create change in your work-world,
🟠Book: Healing-Centred Transformation: Mend, Tend and Change the Future (Paperback) by Kerry Tottingham
🟠Coaching Cards: The Brilliant Box. A multipurpose development deck of cards, to create energy, inspiration, connection and possibility. Brilliant for people, groups, organisations and communities working to create change.
🟠Toolkit: Trauma Informed Communities: codesigned practices and processes, to support trauma informed practice, when working in and with communities.
Our Approach: Transformation Design.
Transformation Design: in Practice.
Our projects demonstrate Designing Transformation in practice.
Working alongside communities, public services and partners across the UK, we bring people together around shared challenges, develop practical assets that preserve learning and strengthen the infrastructure that enables lasting change.
From community-led funding and trauma-informed communities to leadership development and place-based systems change, every project leaves behind stronger relationships, practical resources and greater capacity for the future.
Who we are.
Hi! We are the sisters behind A Brilliant Thing CIC. We care about the people delivering services, running the organisations and doing the community projects. Our joint focus on wellbeing and leadership means learning and development with us creates lasting impact and feels brilliant!
Together we bring a depth of skills in therapeutic counselling, coaching, organisational and community development, people management, design-thinking and experience across charity, NHS, public and private sectors. Inspiration and transforming potential into reality is what A Brilliant Thing means to us.
Kerry, Faye and Tess
Learn With Us.
Transformation doesn’t happen by accident.
Through events, practical resources and free learning, we share ideas, tools and experiences that help people continue learning, build their capacity and create lasting change.
Events
Learning happens best when people come together.
Throughout the year we host conferences, workshops, masterclasses and gatherings that connect people around shared challenges, fresh ideas and practical action.
From the Mend + Tend Conference to the Human Skills Network, our events create opportunities to learn, reflect, collaborate and build lasting relationships with others creating positive change.
Resources
Transformation doesn’t end when a project finishes.
We share our learning through podcasts, books, toolkits and practical resources that help people continue learning, adapting and creating change in their own organisations and communities.
Resources | Podcast on Spotify
The book, Healing-Centred Transformation: mend, tend and change the future, by Kerry Tottingham was nominated for the Peoples Book Prize 2026.
Book on Amazon
Micro-Learning
Change doesnt happen all at once.
We’ve designed a weekly ‘micro-learning’ email series so you can, learn how to use human skills to improve your work, team and organisation in real time.
+PLUS on week 3 you’ll get a discount code for our Human Skills Network.
Navigate Conflict is our free 30min masterclass for managers, to create team alignment.
Ready for transformation design?
If you’re strengthening a team, leading organisational change, redesigning services or bringing partners together around a shared ambition, we’d love to hear about your work.
Book an introduction call to explore your challenge, join our free Human Skills mini-series, or become part of our growing community of people designing healthier organisations, stronger communities and lasting social change.
Email faye@brilliantthing.co.uk or book a call with us.