97. Empathy, Collaborative Storytelling & Reconciliation / Lindsay Branham

Today, I speak with Emmy-nominated filmmaker, social scientist and eco-doula, Lindsay Branham. The Founder of Novo, an incubator for art that inspires human connection in imaginative ways, Lindsay leverages media to meaningfully address ecological and human rights abuses, and also leads and facilitates contemplative spirituality retreats to deepen personal and collective transformation. She is committed to intersectional equity and justice. Lindsay's film-based interventions are designed to accompany people living in the midst of violence to build on their inherent resilience. These have focused on peacefully dismantling the Lord’s Resistance Army from within, facilitating the reintegration of former child soldiers, preventing recruitment into violent extremist groups, reducing elephant poaching, improving psychological flourishing and challenging the root causes of bonded labour. Her partners in these media-based interventions include Search for Common Ground, The Freedom Fund, Invisible Children and Google.With an MPhil in Social Psychology from the University of Cambridge, Lindsay also studied trauma and mental health at Harvard Medical School and journalism at the University of Southern California. Her current focus is on the perceptual experience of the human-nature relationship, a “sensuous terrain” of deep relationality as a PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Cambridge where she is a Cambridge Trust scholar . She is also writing a book that chronicles the intersection of health and climate change. Much of Lindsay’s ethos stems from her experience with contemplative practice from the perennial philosophies spanning decades. She is a graduate of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies eco-chaplaincy program and is currently a retreat facilitator at Synthesis in the Netherlands. A Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace, Lindsay was named the inaugural Envision social good fellow by the Independent Film Project and the United Nations, and she has been published by CNN, the BBC and The New York Times. Her research investigating the link between media and behaviour change has been published by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and in academic journals. Recorded on 14th Oct 2022.