What if the crisis we face isn’t just one of poverty or policy, but of trust?
In this episode of Shift Beyond Conversations, host Rich Jones asks what it would mean to rebuild connection in a time of fracture, when people feel abandoned by systems that were meant to help. Drawing inspiration from Andy Burnham’s recent call for a “culture of encounter,” Rich explores how trust, dignity, and local agency can be restored in communities hollowed out by distant decision-making and soulless bureaucracy.
The Shift Beyond series continues to explore a radical question: what if real change doesn’t come from growing institutions, but from deepening relationships? Across each conversation, thinkers and practitioners imagine how we can build systems with people, not for them – replacing efficiency with empathy, and power-hoarding with power-sharing.
In this reflective solo episode, Rich unpacks three movements:
1️⃣ Naming the fracture: understanding why trust is thin and connection brittle.
2️⃣ Reimagining the local: shifting from systems at people to systems with people.
3️⃣ Practising the shift: small, practical ways we can build a culture of encounter in our everyday lives and leadership.
Along the way, Rich shares how Angels Connect, a social enterprise born from St Andrew’s Community Network, embodies this philosophy in action – redesigning access to debt and welfare advice through trusted community spaces, so that help feels human again.
This episode is both a diagnosis and an invitation: to move from suspicion to solidarity, from empire-building to encounter. It’s a reminder that trust isn’t a by-product of better systems, it is the system.
🎙️ Hosted by Rich Jones, CEO of St Andrew’s Community Network and Angels Connect.
🎧 Produced in partnership with Shift Beyond and Angels Connect – reimagining systems for dignity, justice, and change.
