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Ep 18. Helen Moulinos, CEO POhWER: What are our Human Rights?
38 Plays3 years ago
“Being your authentic self makes you a happier person and a better leader.”
Helen Moulinos is the Chief Executive of POhWER, Britain’s largest human rights advocacy charity.
POhWER was established in 1996 by a group of people with disabilities who were fighting social injustice and challenges in their lives. Today POhWER still operates with these roots at the heart of everything it does: supporting marginalised, vulnerable and socially excluded people through its charitable work.
In 2020, POhWER reached over 400,000 people nationally, ensuring their rights were upheld and they were empowered to make independent choices.
In this episode we talk about rights-led empowerment, as well as advocacy and rights in the particular context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss the controversial ‘vaccine passports’ (or COVID Status Certification) and how during lockdown a number of groups have seen their human rights eroded.
Helen also shares the story of her own leadership journey and insights on transitioning in to the charity sector from investment banking.
Recorded April 2021.
Guest Biography
Helen Moulinos is the Chief Executive of POhWER. Over a 27 year career, Helen has held senior positions in the charity sector for Marie Curie, Stonewall, Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society and The Children’s Society; and in the private sector for Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC.
Helen has always been an active human rights advocate. She has campaigned for change in Human Rights, HIV/AIDS community, LGBT+ Rights and Mental Health over the last 30 years in the USA and United Kingdom. Her passion is to empower people to live independent lives, to embrace the power of diversity and persuade powerful institutions to drive societal change towards a fairer equitable society. Helen lives with depression and dyslexia. In 2001 she was caught up in the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, from which she inherited hearing loss and PTSD. Helen has lived in Britain since 2001 and calls North London her home. She is a keen cook, avid traveller, and aspiring yogi.
Links
https://www.pohwer.net/
Survey on Human Rights Attitudes and Opinions:https://www.pohwer.net/pohwer-survey-british-human-rights
Helen Moulinos is the Chief Executive of POhWER, Britain’s largest human rights advocacy charity.
POhWER was established in 1996 by a group of people with disabilities who were fighting social injustice and challenges in their lives. Today POhWER still operates with these roots at the heart of everything it does: supporting marginalised, vulnerable and socially excluded people through its charitable work.
In 2020, POhWER reached over 400,000 people nationally, ensuring their rights were upheld and they were empowered to make independent choices.
In this episode we talk about rights-led empowerment, as well as advocacy and rights in the particular context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss the controversial ‘vaccine passports’ (or COVID Status Certification) and how during lockdown a number of groups have seen their human rights eroded.
Helen also shares the story of her own leadership journey and insights on transitioning in to the charity sector from investment banking.
Recorded April 2021.
Guest Biography
Helen Moulinos is the Chief Executive of POhWER. Over a 27 year career, Helen has held senior positions in the charity sector for Marie Curie, Stonewall, Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society and The Children’s Society; and in the private sector for Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC.
Helen has always been an active human rights advocate. She has campaigned for change in Human Rights, HIV/AIDS community, LGBT+ Rights and Mental Health over the last 30 years in the USA and United Kingdom. Her passion is to empower people to live independent lives, to embrace the power of diversity and persuade powerful institutions to drive societal change towards a fairer equitable society. Helen lives with depression and dyslexia. In 2001 she was caught up in the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, from which she inherited hearing loss and PTSD. Helen has lived in Britain since 2001 and calls North London her home. She is a keen cook, avid traveller, and aspiring yogi.
Links
https://www.pohwer.net/
Survey on Human Rights Attitudes and Opinions:https://www.pohwer.net/pohwer-survey-british-human-rights
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Transcript
Empowerment Through Advocacy
00:00:00
Speaker
We help people from all walks of life and lived experience our mission is to empower people to have a voice to make a real difference to their lives and power does this by speaking for them when they can't and supporting them to speak for themselves when they can with independent choices and to uphold their rights.
00:00:18
Speaker
We support human beings, not labels. We're so much more than the labels that society places on us. And we want to sort of move away from that. We really want to influence the attitudes, choices, and actions that powerful people institutions make to promote a fairer society. And we hope our work helps people to be able to uphold rights in their everyday individual lives, but also that we drive systemic change so that others won't experience what they have.
Season 2 Charity CEO Podcast Overview
00:00:56
Speaker
Welcome to Season 2 of the Charity CEO Podcast, the podcast for charity leaders by charity leaders. This is the show that gets beneath the surface of issues, engaging in meaningful and inspirational conversations with leaders from across the sector.
00:01:12
Speaker
I'm the Rio Connor and each episode I will be interviewing a charity leader who will share with us their insights, knowledge and topical expertise on challenges facing our sector in these turbulent times. This show is for everyone who cares about the important work of charities.
Interview with Helen Molinos: Advocacy and Empowerment
00:01:28
Speaker
Helen Molinos is the Chief Executive of Power, Britain's largest human rights advocacy charity. Power was established in 1996 by a group of people with disabilities who were fighting social injustice and challenges in their lives. Today, Power still operates with these roots at its heart, supporting marginalised, vulnerable and socially excluded people through its charitable work.
00:01:53
Speaker
In this episode we talk about rights-led empowerment as well as advocacy and rights in the particular context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss the controversial vaccine passports and how during lockdown a number of groups saw their human rights eroded. Helen also shares her leadership journey and insights on transitioning into the charity sector from investment banking. I hope you enjoyed the show.
00:02:23
Speaker
Hi, Helen. Welcome to the show. Lovely to have you here today. Lovely to be here, David. Thank you for having me. Well, I know that you are an avid listener to the show, so you will be familiar with our icebreaker round. So let's dive straight in. OK, let's do it. Question one. Tell us about a book or a person that has had a profound impact on you.
00:02:44
Speaker
Margaret Atwood, Handmaid's Tale. One of my favorite quotes is, now I'm awake to the world. I was asleep before. That's how we let it happen. Oh, I love that. Beautiful. Question two, as a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up? I think I thought I was going to be a doctor or a UN diplomat. Wow.
00:03:09
Speaker
Great ambition there. I love it. Question three. If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing in the world right now, what would that be? I would probably change equality. I think I'd make the world a level playing field for everyone. Yes, I thought you might say that. Question four. If you could go on holiday right now without worrying about the coronavirus, where would you like to go?
00:03:36
Speaker
It would have to be my happy place, which is Koh Samiri, Thailand, lie on that beach. I can just see myself there, but I'd love to return to there. Yes, I'm dying to, to get some beach time. That would be lovely. And our final icebreaker question.
Origins and Focus of Power Charity
00:03:53
Speaker
If you had the opportunity to interview anyone in the world dead or alive, who would it be? And what one question would you like to ask them?
00:04:02
Speaker
I'm very inspired by a lot of younger generation of human rights activists that are out there. And somebody who's really caught my attention in recent years is Malayla Ustazi, Pakistani education rights campaigner. I think I'd ask her, where did she find the strength to fight for the rights of education for women in Pakistan facing such adversity?
00:04:23
Speaker
So I'd be really interested in meeting her. That would be great. Absolutely agree with you. And talking about human rights, Helen, you are, of course, the chief executive of the organization Power, which I believe originally stood for people of Hertfordshire and now stands for people of here want equal rights. So tell us the origin story of your organization. What is your mission and vision? Sure. I'd love to. Thank you, Divya.
00:04:49
Speaker
So power was started 25 years ago in 1996 by a group of very inspiring people who were fighting for social justice in their own lives through what really would later be known as rights led empowerment. So power helps people who, because of disability, mental health, illness, social exclusion, or other marginalizing factors or challenges.
00:05:12
Speaker
Find it difficult to express their views or get the support they need. We help everyone who needs us and unusually, we don't have a typical beneficiary. So our youngest beneficiary is seven. Our oldest is a hundred plus. We help people from all walks of life and lived experience. Our mission is to empower people to have a voice to make a real difference to their lives.
00:05:34
Speaker
And power does this by speaking for them when they can't and supporting them to speak for themselves when they can with independent choices and to uphold their rights. Our work is really quite exciting. And at the moment, we are guided really by six key themes of work. One is to promote a level playing field in society to equity and empowerment. The second is around making advocacy accessible to everyone anywhere who might need it.
00:06:04
Speaker
We want to champion people-centered advocacy, which is delivered to an individual's own circumstances, not limited by commissioning boundaries or funding boundaries.
Advocacy for Systemic Fairness
00:06:15
Speaker
We also want to address the root cause of disadvantage and discrimination that our beneficiaries face so that it doesn't happen again. So they're not on the gerbil wheel of repeating circumstances. We support human beings, not labels. We're so much more than the labels that society places on us. And we want to sort of move away from that.
00:06:34
Speaker
And lastly, we really want to influence the attitudes, choices and actions that powerful people, institutions make to promote a fairer society. And we hope our work helps people to be able to uphold rights in their everyday individual lives, but also that we drive systemic change so that others won't experience what they have. People can find out a bit more about power on our website or even through our national helpline. We're friendly and we're always here to listen.
00:07:02
Speaker
Excellent. And I was actually just going to ask you a bit later on, where could people go for information? So do you want to share your website or the national helpline phone number, Helen?
00:07:13
Speaker
Sure. So people can reach us on our website, which is www.pohwer.net, or you can call our national helpline on 0300 456 2370. That's great. And we will include links in the show notes as well. So our listeners can access that and.
00:07:33
Speaker
Talking a bit more about advocacy, Helen, you talked about people-centered advocacy. Can you explain a bit more as to what this really is and what's the difference between, say, statutory advocacy and self-advocacy? So the idea of advocacy is very much written into the Human Rights Act, and we can talk about the Human Rights Act, but let me first focus on what is advocacy.
00:07:56
Speaker
So public authorities, by public authorities, I mean your local authority, a housing office, a prison, a care home, the police, the NS, anywhere where there is a public service has to uphold the Human Rights Act, the MAC, the CARE Act, Mental Capacity Act, different types of statutory advocacy that are out there to uphold that. So statutory advocacy is where a person is legally entitled to an advocate because of their individual circumstances.
00:08:24
Speaker
maybe because they're being treated under the Mental Health Act or they lack mental capacity on their own decisions. It also covers certain people who may be in the care of the NHS or local authority, including, for example, prisoners. Community or non-statutory advocacy is really a bit of advocacy that reaches everyone. Community advocacy could be also known as self-advocacy or preventative approaches. And this is about enabling and empower people to be active citizens and self-advocate
00:08:51
Speaker
in regards to decisions affecting their lives are being made about them through information, advice, and other pathways. So really, if you think about advocacy, you can think about it as the statutory advocacy or a non-statutory or community-based or self-advocacy. Some of the examples of advocacy that Power offers, I mean, first of all, we work very broadly in communities up and down the country. We provide a lot of self-advocacy resources and digital resources that are available on our website.
00:09:18
Speaker
including podcasts, information leaflets, if anyone's interested in that. But specifically, we offer a number of specialist advocacy, and these include things like independent mental capacity advocacy. This is where if somebody doesn't have the capacity to make an important decision about their care and treatment, there's a danger that decision will not reflect their views and wishes. We have relevant persons paid advocacy, and this is to make sure that people's rights are upheld when they're deprived of their liberties
00:09:48
Speaker
We have independent mental health advocacy, and this applies to people who might be detained under the Mental Health Act to make sure that their rights are upheld. We have health complaints advocacy. This is very much where things go wrong in NHS care. Independent Care Act advocacy, as it sounds, this is to uphold Care Act decisions that affect all of us.
00:10:11
Speaker
secure and complex advocacy. This relates to people in secure and institutional settings who may not understand what is happening or may not have the power and privilege to affect what's happening. This could be, for example, people who may be living on the extreme end of mental health conditions, learning disabilities, autistic spectrum orders. This could be individuals that are in institutional settings like high secure hospitals or prisons,
00:10:39
Speaker
psychiatric intensive units, step down, use it residential facilities or even care homes. And so independent rights led advocacy is not always accessible to really everyone who does need it.
00:10:51
Speaker
We are a big believer that everyone has a right to access advocacy, no matter what your life circumstances or lived experiences. And advocacy is something that really should take us through childhood, parenthood, social care, health, education, employment, criminal justice, local community engagement, family life, financial health. And even when we are dying, there are human rights in that sort of element as well.
00:11:13
Speaker
That's great. I mean, there's so much information there, Helen. And just zooming out a little bit in terms of looking at human rights. And I know that Power has an ongoing campaign to really educate people and spread awareness about what our day-to-day kind of rights and protections are. So can you tell us a bit more about what our British human rights and where did they come from?
British Human Rights History
00:11:35
Speaker
Let me start quickly by giving you a very helicopter view of human rights in British life.
00:11:43
Speaker
So this starts with the Magna Carta in 1215. And this is the first time that laws apply to kings and queens too. We zoom forward to 1948, which is when on a global level, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is set up. And then in 1950, we have really the birth of human rights in UK and Europe with the European Convention on Human Rights. In later years, we have other corresponding acts, importantly in 65, we've got the Race Relations Act,
00:12:12
Speaker
in 1975, Sex Discrimination Act. Again, there are other following legislation that appears in UK and Europe. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is applied in local laws here, Disability Discrimination Act in 1995, all building up to the Human Rights Act of 98 and the Equality Act of 2010, which brings together about 100 or more pieces of legislation into a single act. So it consolidates some of that.
00:12:40
Speaker
British human rights and everyday life are protected by the Human Rights Act of 1998. Now Divya, we often don't talk about human rights and everyday life. There's sometimes a very dangerous rhetoric that gets thrown around that the Human Rights Act is somehow some kind of villain charter protecting the rights of undesirable people, like it's only for criminals or only for terrorists.
00:13:06
Speaker
There's sometimes a lack of real education and awareness that although we live in what we'd like to believe is a modern contemporary society here in Britain, unfortunately, human rights breaches occur here every day to people from all walks of life, not just the vulnerable and marginalized. There is too much focus, I think, on international human rights and not enough on sorting our own house out here domestically to strengthen the enforcement of human rights.
00:13:32
Speaker
Now you asked, what are some examples of human rights? Now there's a very, very long list of resources out there. You can have a look at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. You can have a look at the British Institute of Human Rights, which has some excellent information about that. But a couple of selected human rights that I kind of want to just mention to your listeners. This is things like right to life, right to liberty, right to a fair trial, right to freedom of thought, conscious and expression.
00:13:59
Speaker
So there are so many different human rights, but there are some very, very good resources out there where people can read up more about them. The last thing I sort of want to say is that I mentioned advocacy and the role of advocacy as one pathway for people to uphold their rights. Another pathway that the Human Rights Act talks about is judicial review. Now, judicial review, if you think about the way that the government is set up here in the UK, we've got our government, electric parliament, and the courts.
00:14:27
Speaker
judicial review is simply a type of legal challenge that you and i can take against the public authority for human rights are not held. It's where a judge reviews the lawfulness of a public body's actions now this isn't an easy path as most barristers cannot be instructed in the average person may not have the financial resources to pursue it but it is written into law and very much another pathway for people to uphold the right so judicial review is a vital part of the law in this country as advocacy as well.
00:14:57
Speaker
That's really so interesting, Helen. And I'd actually like to get your opinion and talk about something that might be perhaps a little bit of a controversial topic of discussion, but I'd really like to explore this issue.
Vaccine Passports and Human Rights
00:15:10
Speaker
We're used to controversial topics here at Power, so excellent. Yeah, go for it.
00:15:14
Speaker
Yes, and in the context of the pandemic and the pandemic response, I mean, we've recently had the government confirmed that we may need COVID status certification or a vaccine passport to do things like go to the theatre or concerts. And there is currently an ongoing discussion on whether vaccines should be mandatory for care home workers, for example.
00:15:37
Speaker
And I'd really like to explore the notion that isn't this actually an erosion of our basic rights and taking away of our freedom of rights? And we spoke there about right to life, right to freedom, of thought, free speech. I mean, what impact does this design of the UK government in terms of the pandemic response have in terms of our human rights?
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really, really interesting question and one that I've been talking a lot about in the last week, which wouldn't surprise you very, very topical and timely. So as the government's been starting to shape and articulate their plans on vaccination passports or really what is a COVID-19 vaccination certification, you know, that's what this really is. This shouldn't be controversial, Divya, but I can't help but wonder if the implications of these plans are leading us
00:16:29
Speaker
To really what today on the front page of the papers, you know, the according Human Rights Commission refers to a two tier society. We speak often of the opportunities that a post pandemic vaccinated world will bring for all of us foreign holidays and concerts and social contact.
00:16:46
Speaker
What's less talk about is the impact of the have nots and those who will be left behind by these vaccination passports. And I think there are more questions and answers right now, but if I could just pose a couple of challenges that this brings to human rights. The first is the personal choice about whether to be vaccinated or not. How does the Equality Act of 2010, which protects my right to religion or protects mothers or pregnant women,
00:17:15
Speaker
How does that fit in with my choice about whether to be vaccinated or not? What about data and privacy? So if we think about these vaccination passports, I'm okay as an average citizen with the NHS having my healthcare data and biometric data. I'm not sure how I feel about my healthcare data being shared with third party contractors who might be running track and trace or other government agencies or the police.
00:17:38
Speaker
Because I don't know how it's going to be used and I haven't consented to my data being used, let's say, beyond the NHS. So do I want a restaurant to have it? Do I want a public concert hall to have my private information? So there's a privacy challenge. I think there's a question around employment, right? So if I'm an employer.
00:17:56
Speaker
Am I able to give my employees who might be working on the front line? Advocates are considered frontline workers in many settings. We work in hospitals, we work in care homes. So what if one of my advocates doesn't want to be vaccinated? What are their employment rights if, for example, we heard last night
00:18:15
Speaker
that Matt Hancock and this government is talking about making vaccinations mandatory in care home setting. What happens to people who refuse to be vaccinated? Are they still employed? I think there's a question about mental capacity and disability and other health factors. So what if I'm not able to understand this decision or what's being put to me? Is someone going to make a choice for me? As a first generation American,
00:18:39
Speaker
I lived with parents who spoke broken English and in communities in America where people didn't speak English. I lived inside the country. We may have lots of people on language and literacy barriers. I think there are other issues around what powers does the government have to enforce vaccination or enforce testing, for example, as an alternative. And lastly, the things I really, really wonder about
00:19:06
Speaker
Is the people who aren't registered with GPS, the people who are living on the margins of society, what about the homeless? What about asylum seekers? What about illegal immigrants? I mean, we have to think about what programs are we going to put in with people who don't live on the grid? Like a lot of people who are registered with GPS.
00:19:25
Speaker
So this touches on a whole host of human rights, not including freedom of expression, freedom of right to life, right to liberty. There's a whole host of unanswered questions from each of you at the moment.
00:19:37
Speaker
I absolutely agree with you. And it's been really interesting to watch the debate around vaccine hesitancy and any sort of challenge to vaccine efficacy or hesitancy essentially being shut down. But this, I think, goes so much further than just the question of, oh, am I sure about having a vaccine or not, which is certainly an absolutely valid question. But it speaks to actual discrimination as well. I mean, you mentioned there the Equality Act. It does.
00:20:07
Speaker
So if I have a religious belief or if I'm pregnant and I choose to not have the vaccination, which law is going to kick in? Will I be protected under the Equality Act? Where are my rights? Do my rights sit with the Human Rights Act, the Equality Act, the emergency powers? Which law applies to me? And I don't think the average citizen has an understanding of that.
00:20:30
Speaker
I would agree. And on this point, Helen, what more do you want to see from government right now? Because they are sort of turning the tables on us. I mean, just a few months ago, they said categorically there would not be a vaccine passport. And now a few months down the line. So what would you like to see from government? What should they be doing to sort of not just educate, but actually reassure people as well?
00:20:57
Speaker
First of all, the government is in a very tricky position and I do empathize and sympathize.
Critique of Pandemic Response
00:21:04
Speaker
Although a large amount of the public has been very critical, when is anyone ever ready for a pandemic?
00:21:10
Speaker
Things I'd like to see the government get better at is, first of all, what we've seen under the pandemic is a lot of barriers to public information. And this has to do with accessibility. So the way people access their information, whether it's digital inclusion, digital exclusion, maybe I have a sensory disability, so I actually need information presented to me in a different way. Maybe I have a learning disability and I need information in an easy read format.
00:21:35
Speaker
Maybe I speak a different language, but I think that I'd like to see better understanding of the public's accessibility needs and how different people need to receive information and how they receive information.
00:21:47
Speaker
I think the second thing is that when the government puts out policies like social distancing, which we saw this last year, it's really easy to describe social distancing for able-bodied people or people who are not in institutional settings. But what about those who don't have a choice about the close proximity of others? So maybe that there's a physical necessity because they're institutionalized and they don't actually have a choice about that.
00:22:14
Speaker
I think that there's a real lack of access to good consultation with lived experience groups who can support and actually give that information to the government. So I'd love to see the government forming some better lived experience groups. I think that when we saw the NHS dealing with pent up demand and dealing with capacity issues.
00:22:38
Speaker
We saw a lot of easements on existing laws and protections in the name of capacity. We also saw a lot of unlawful and unethical blanket DNR policies and orders put in, again, in the name of capacity. So I just think there needs to be better consultation with society and the different people who live in society.
00:23:05
Speaker
But also I'd like to see better engagement with civil society and particularly charities. There are 166,000 charities in this country, many of who are on the front line with the communities they serve. And I really think the government could do better to reach out to societies who may be better able to advocate on behalf of their beneficiaries than just put out broad statements. Lastly, I think that
00:23:31
Speaker
the government is not thinking about the marginalization or the further marginalization of communities through some of these policies. So we are seeing a widening privilege gap with race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and people living with disability during the pandemic because of the lack of consideration that it's not one size fits all and we don't have the same lived experiences.
00:23:57
Speaker
Helen, you spoke there of the example of blanket DNR policies and just for listeners who may not be familiar with what that is, can you explain that example a bit more?
Human Rights and Pandemic Policies
00:24:08
Speaker
Sure. So a DNR order is where you essentially, it's a do not attempt resuscitation order and it's specific to cardiac arrest.
00:24:19
Speaker
So all of us have choices in what happens with our care. So I as an individual may as part of my advanced care planning put in a consent to put in a do not resuscitate order. What we saw during the pandemic power unfortunately had to deal with over 800 cases where what we saw was something called a blanket DNR. So this isn't where individuals were consulted with their own choices.
00:24:47
Speaker
But this is where entire settings, buildings, or entire classes of protected classes of people, we had quite a few incidents that we were dealing with that we then had to deal with the human rights breaches off the backup. So for example, somebody may have applied a blanket day in AR to several hundred residents of let's say a care home, which specialized in LD and autism. Now that is completely unlawful and unethical on every level.
00:25:17
Speaker
What we all was not just blanket DNA ours against protected characteristics and groups of people without their consent, but we also saw.
00:25:26
Speaker
do not resuscitate orders which are meant for cardiac arrest being applied to people and interpreted during the pandemic as do not treat this person for anything at all, which is also not what a DNR is. And because again, some of the people who were impacted were living with really exceptional disability in very vulnerable situations or lack mental capacity, there were some very, very sad cases that we treated. So this starts to become a public safeguarding issue.
00:25:54
Speaker
And when policy-based decisions or easements to the law during the pandemic start to affect the human rights of people, but also the lives of people, whether they're treated or not treated, it's really worrying, Divya. That's what really powers work is about, is being that independent voice and looking into some of these really difficult cases.
00:26:18
Speaker
what you describe is absolutely incredible. And you spoke earlier about the Human Rights Act of 1998 and the Mental Health Act and people institutions and the concern that some of the legislation around these things are being eased. And I know that this year we actually do to see certain reforms come through to these acts. So can you talk to us about some of the reforms that you are hoping to see?
Upcoming Human Rights Reforms
00:26:44
Speaker
Sure, it's a really exciting time for reform. So
00:26:48
Speaker
Let me start first with the Human Rights Act. So after two decades of being in force, this government in December, 2020 has set up an independent review of the Human Rights Act. The Human Rights Act and that whole review is being chaired in a panel of very experienced individuals. It's being chaired by a former court appeal judge, Sir Peter Gross, and he'll consider as the panel would whether HRA needs updating.
00:27:15
Speaker
Now, this particular review is going to be looking at initially, although not exclusively, at the government's work to deliver the work in the current government's manifesto to look at the broader aspects of constitution and the relationship between government, parliament and the courts related to human rights. There are other work streams which are going to be announced in due course, so
00:27:41
Speaker
they're going to be looking at whether there's a proper balance between the rights of individuals, national security, and how this all fits together. And lastly, I understand they're also going to examine the interoperability of HRA, EA, the Equality Act of 2010, Care Act, Mental Health Act, and so on and so on, and the suite of human rights protections.
00:28:02
Speaker
Now, we know that what this committee is going to do is completely, although the scope's been set out, the recommendations are not yet out. I think that they won't be out probably for a good year. So look forward to seeing the white paper. Organizations like Power and other, I know, civil society organizations have been
00:28:24
Speaker
very, very vocal in recent consultations and submissions to parliament about what we believe needs to happen and really encouraging the government to keep the existing rights there. So until really the recommendations are out, I'm going to hold off on opinion really because otherwise I'd just be speculating on rumors in terms of what might be there.
00:28:48
Speaker
The Mental Health Act reform is much more formed and further along the way. So Mental Health Act reform is pretty long overdue. I'm enthusiastic and I think it's wonderful to see some progress in reforming the Mental Health Act, particularly where it strengthens the relationship and powers individuals and further upholds human rights. It's important that this builds dignity for people supported by public services or in government run institutions.
00:29:17
Speaker
The thing give you, however, is that there are many concerns power still has about the proposed changes to the mental health act, where we hope are addressed ahead of the legislation being proposed in parliament. We're cautiously optimistic, so I don't want this to sound like a dour sort of view. We're excited about the reform, but we still think there's more we can do.
00:29:41
Speaker
around instigative and regulatory oversight, particularly for non-natural deaths, for example, in a mental health setting. We'd like to see a bit more how discrimination in the act is applied. And especially we see a lot of inequalities and disparities between the experiences of white and black people, particularly in detention and also community treatment orders.
00:30:08
Speaker
We keep hearing there's going to be an increased role for independent advocacy and for organizations like Power, but there's not really a whole lot of clarity. We're already pretty underfunded in a lot of these settings. So we'd like to see sort of more clarity, particularly in settings like prisons and immigration detention centers, which I think are still pretty underfunded by the government. Lastly, safeguarding is on my mind.
00:30:33
Speaker
I think I'm particularly concerned about the rights of people living with Eldian autism, particularly those who are being kept in detention. And lastly, I still don't see some kind of remedy for the unethical use of blanket restrictions. So yeah, those are the kinds of things that are on our mind, but we're cautiously optimistic. So at the moment, we're about to go into judicial review actually with parliament. So that's where things are.
00:30:59
Speaker
Helen, just picking up on your point with regards to discrimination, particularly of people in sort of detention centers or where there are restrictions placed on them, have you seen an increase in calls to your helpline during the past year through the pandemic?
Pandemic Challenges and Discrimination
00:31:17
Speaker
We have. We've had this phenomenal explosion of growth. We've had to grow quickly.
00:31:26
Speaker
and not just grow in terms of numbers. So we reached over 400,000 people this past year during the pandemic. But I think as an organization, we were seeing a lot of new people, a lot of new lived experiences, a lot of new types of discrimination and oppression. We heard a lot from, for example, trans communities, which were really interesting in terms of some of their rights in health care settings. We heard from a growing group
00:31:56
Speaker
of people with lived experiences in mental health and disability who were not getting access that they needed to, to important support. And we were also hearing from a lot of people who were experiencing food poverty, who didn't have access to life-giving medication, people living with domestic violence situations. I think it's been a very challenging year, but one that I am incredibly proud
00:32:24
Speaker
that my advocates and my workforce has stepped up to. So when people have been in crisis the past year, we've expanded our helpline so that they've run into the evenings and our weekends. And I think we've grown up a lot as a charity and also identified where we're not able to help and position people with support by signposting them to sort of other organizations who are better equipped to do so. But yeah, a really challenging year. And I think often,
00:32:53
Speaker
people don't think about the trauma and distress and wellbeing of those on the frontline of civil society. So I've been really, really worried about the wellbeing of my own staff during the pandemic because they've been absorbing almost the crisis of some of our beneficiaries. So a very interesting year and one with many lessons learned. And how do you see the rest of 2021 unfolding and how are you preparing your organisation to navigate the ongoing uncertainty?
00:33:22
Speaker
Gosh, it's really interesting, isn't it? Because if you had asked me a year ago what we were going to do for the pandemic, we adapted the way society adapted and the way they're the guidelines. I think right now we don't have a crystal ball as to how things are unfolding. We're making a lot of investments in upskilling staff with new skills.
00:33:48
Speaker
we're making a lot of time to actually sit and pause and analyze data to understand what happened so we can actually position ourselves for the coming year. I've started to have a look at some of the demographics, some of the data about why people needed our support over the last year. And it's pretty phenomenal. But what it does tell me as a CEO is we're going to have to pivot and transform ourselves again. So yeah, I'm pretty excited about it, but
00:34:18
Speaker
I think we're going to be very much data led in terms of our next steps. Pivot has certainly been the word of the past year with every single organization pretty much having to adapt to changing landscape and changing environment. I'd like to switch lanes a little bit now and talk a bit more about your personal leadership journey. I know that you, like me, also started your career in the private sector. You were in investment banking whilst I was in
00:34:45
Speaker
retail banking and financial services. So can you tell us a little bit about what led you to the charity sector and talk to us about that transition? Sure. So I spent a little over 20 years in the private sector. I have a very unusual career. I started my career very, very young. I was a quantitative research analyst as a young woman. I could write and I could do maths and what better career really for one. So
00:35:10
Speaker
Back in the nineties, I would have joined a bank. I would have been crunching numbers and macroeconomic patterns, which is quite an unusual pathway for somebody who's a chief executive charity now. And very quickly, I spent most of the 20 years transitioning to a career, which was around mergers, acquisitions, traveling around the world and really putting deals together, integrating companies, breaking up companies, restructuring, setting up partnerships, all of those types of things. It brought me around the world.
00:35:39
Speaker
It gave me a lot of excitement. About seven years ago, I thought to myself, I'm not living in a way in my work life, which is authentic to me. So my dark secret really was that I was living a double life. So last year I celebrated my 30th year as a volunteer, but also as an activist. So while I was going to stuffy environments in bank during the day,
00:36:08
Speaker
Behind the scenes, I was spending evenings and weekends very involved in what was then a lot of activism around HIV and AIDS and human rights in New York and then the US, a lot of lobbying activity, and also working on mental health reform as well. So it was quite ironic to me that I came to Britain, gosh, it'll be 20 years this year, but probably since the early 90s, you know, I've been sort of advocating for change.
00:36:36
Speaker
I think I got to this place where I thought enough of the double life. I need to now change my life so that my career becomes the charity sector. And I wanted to support organizations which were either involved in social care or human rights. And so seven years ago, I set up an interim business where I was consulting charities on restructuring challenges or M&A or other partnership challenges, or even crisis management.
00:37:03
Speaker
I found myself working for some amazing organizations, a few to name Marie Curie, Stonewall, a short stint at AGK, some time at Alzheimer's, some time at the Children's Society as an interim. And then I think about a year and a half ago, I thought I need something more. I need a home in which to rest my weary head. And I found this role at Power and actually next week I will be at Power for a year.
00:37:30
Speaker
So my first year as a chief exec has been under lockdown. Quite a weird time to step up into a leadership challenge.
00:37:37
Speaker
Well, congratulations on completing your first year as a chief executive with a charity. I am really intrigued by how you described it there, Helen, as leading a double life. And I think the real privilege of being a leader in the charity sector is that you do get to combine what really drives and motivates you in terms of your passion to make a difference in the world with a professional career and doing that in a professional context in leading an organization.
00:38:06
Speaker
Looking back at your leadership journey then, Helen, and given that you have completed your first year as a Charity Chief Executive during lockdown, what advice would you give to yourself on day one of first becoming that CEO?
Advice for New CEOs
00:38:20
Speaker
I think the first thing I'd say to myself is that things will break and it's okay. And actually to see this as a marathon and not a sprint.
00:38:33
Speaker
That was one of the big transitions I had coming into this role. Having been an interim for so many years, you're so used to things, having a beginning, middle and end, and everything being at this crazy pace. So I think actually transitioning into a longer term role, it's a bit of a roller coaster. There are up days and down days and that's okay. I think I would have said to myself, Helen, being your authentic self makes you a happier person and a better leader.
00:39:01
Speaker
being vulnerable and honest is really important and not necessarily putting on a mask. I think sometimes as chief execs, we're expected to be performing in monkeys that always have smiles on our face and always remain calm. I think there's something really important about saying to a colleague, you know what, my mental health's not in a great place or actually I'm not okay today.
00:39:27
Speaker
or I'm upset or I'm angry. These are very human emotions. So being authentic is really important to me as well. I love how you describe it as being your authentic self makes you a happier person and a better leader. And I think that's so true. And on that note, Helen, what's most inspiring about being the CEO of Power? Oh, gosh. I must admit, I feel sometimes inadequate.
00:39:53
Speaker
leading the organization and my inspiration for being there every day is the work that the advocates do. Think about the people I work with. They argue for a living. They push on closed doors. They don't take no for an answer and they are fearless and really passionate about making things better, solving problems, empowering others. So,
00:40:23
Speaker
I'm in all of them really. And that's what brings me to work every day is seeing not just the reach of power, but knowing that we work with a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be helped elsewhere. And sometimes power is almost that last port of call of crisis. So seeing the work that my colleagues do every day, whether they're staff or volunteers, it's really inspiring.
00:40:49
Speaker
Wow. Well, Helen, it's been so informative talking with you. I feel like I've learned so much through this conversation. And in closing now, do you have any final thoughts or reflections that you would like to
Inspiration and Human Rights Participation
00:41:01
Speaker
share? What is one thing you'd like listeners to take away from this conversation? I think if you take anything away from today, I'd like you to think about human rights in everyday British life. So if listeners could take the time to learn about your own rights, learn about the rights of others,
00:41:20
Speaker
Human rights are for everyone, me, you, your grandmother, your children, your neighbors. So I'd love people to take a few minutes to learn about their own rights. And the second thing I would ask is if your listeners have time, we're running a national survey on human rights opinions and attitudes in Britain. We'll be running that survey through the end of October, 2021.
00:41:46
Speaker
you can find the survey on the Power website, www.power.net. And we would love to hear from you and get as many opinions as possible. Thank you, Helen. And yes, I took your survey in preparation doing research for this podcast and I must admit there were lots of things on there that I thought, oh, I actually don't know the answer to that or I didn't realize that. So definitely encourage listeners to take the survey and we will include a link in the show notes to it.
00:42:11
Speaker
Well, thank you, Helen. It was great to have you as a guest. Thank you very, very much. I really appreciate being on your show.
00:42:20
Speaker
That was such a fascinating conversation with Helen Molinos, CEO of Power, talking about rights-led empowerment and people-centered advocacy. I hope you found this discussion as valuable as I did and have learned more about your own human rights in everyday life, and importantly, how to uphold them. My next guest is Baroness Deluth Morgan, Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now. Hit that subscribe button now and the new episode will automatically download when released.
00:42:51
Speaker
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00:43:17
Speaker
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