How Helen Stuart Is Redefining Access To Safe, Fair And Ethical Therapy
Now You’re Talking, led by Managing Director Helen Stuart, is the trading arm of the charity Talk Listen Change. The platform connects people and businesses with verified, ethical therapists while funding free counselling through its parent charity. Balancing accessibility with safety, it pays therapists fairly and puts care before scale. By blending business with social impact, Now You’re Talking is building a sustainable model for mental health support that uplifts clients, practitioners, and communities alike.
How Danielle Heward Founded Optimo To Support Businesses That Put People And Planet First
Optimo, founded by Danielle Heward, supports purpose-driven organisations with streamlined operations that amplify impact. From solo consultancy to certified B Corp, Optimo balances growth with wellbeing. Using a people-processes-technology-information framework, they deliver practical change while staying values-led. Their ripple effects strengthen ethical agencies, communities, and sustainable businesses, proving impact multiplies through better operations.
How Harry Waters is helping young people find their voice in the climate crisis
Harry Waters didn’t set out to start a business. He set out to change the conversation on climate change and to include the most important people, who are often so easily forgotten – Children..
Through Renewable English, he’s helping students connect language and climate action in ways that feel empowering, not overwhelming. It’s about more than teaching; it’s about listening, relating, and reminding young people they already have something important to say.
James Gill is building the future of eco-friendly email
In a world where digital feels weightless, EcoSend is quietly asking what our clicks are costing the planet. Born on the hottest day in London, it began with a question: what’s the carbon footprint of an email? For James Gill and his team, that curiosity became a calling. Now, EcoSend helps ethical businesses communicate with integrity – powered by renewables, transparent about emissions, and aligned with values that matter. It’s not about growing faster. It’s about growing better. With every email sent, EcoSend invites a shift: from extractive to intentional, from business-as-usual to business that regenerates. One message at a time.
How Helen and Chris turned a personal promise into a movement for biodiversity and belonging
When Helen and Chris Neave first stepped onto a tired Yorkshire field, they didn’t see what was there, they saw what could be. With no master plan, just love for the land and a will to restore, they began. That act of care sparked something bigger. Today, Make it Wild is a growing network of rewilding sites, inviting people and businesses to support nature in deeply personal ways. It’s not just restoration – it’s reconnection. “It’s not our aim to support nature,” Helen says. “It’s our purpose.” What began with trees now echoes as a movement. Quiet. Committed. Alive.
Emma is building a business where creativity heals and waste finds new worth
In a quiet corner of Cheshire, Emma Semper Hopkins is stitching together a different kind of growth – one rooted in care, craft, and circularity. From her upcycled studio in an old Methodist chapel, she teaches upholstery with heart. What began as a home renovation skill has become a purpose-led business, helping people reconnect with creativity, confidence, and calm. Through hands-on workshops, Emma invites others to slow down, make with meaning, and resist throwaway culture. “If we can create with purpose, we can live with intention,” she says. Her work is proof that real beauty grows slowly, and often, in the most unexpected places.
How Harrison Ward turned cooking outdoors into a movement for mental health
“This wasn’t meant to be a business. It started as survival.”
Harrison Ward didn’t set out to build a brand. He set out to rebuild himself. From alcoholism and poor mental health to cooking on mountaintops as @fellfoodie, his journey is one of quiet resilience, radical honesty, and choosing purpose over profit.
In our latest Good Growth Guide story, Harrison shares how sharing his truth became a lifeline, both for him, and for others.
How Isabel Mack sparked a global waste-reduction effort from her kitchen table
In 2019, Isabel Mack came across a simple idea: lending reusable tableware for children’s parties to reduce waste. From her kitchen table in Winchester, that idea grew into the Party Kit Network; a global, volunteer-powered movement now spanning nearly 600 local lenders across the UK, Australia, and the US. Together, they’ve helped avoid over a million single-use items. With no central inventory or profit motive, the network thrives on community spirit and a shared joy in doing things differently. It’s a quiet but powerful model of circular living, proving that real change can start small, and grow hand to hand.
Kate is growing a region-first green economy platform with no outside funding
When Kate Hutchinson walked through fire – literally – she found her purpose on the other side. From a single event in Yorkshire, she’s built The Sustainability Community into a 12,000-strong network accelerating the green economy across the UK. Her region-first model puts local voices at the heart of national change, proving that transformation doesn’t have to come from the centre. With no outside funding, she’s built momentum through story-led events, inclusive strategy, and a steadfast belief in people. “Not everything good happens in London,” she says. “And the journey to net zero must be led region by region.” This is what good growth looks like.