Why we exist
We see an urgent opportunity to transform our way of living and to help shift humanity’s values. The heart is the key to transformation and we all have the capacity to cultivate the necessary skills for the transformation of conflict and crises.
The book and the online course demonstrate how learning so-called ‘soft skills’ can address the fundamental problems now facing humanity.
About our founder
My name is Scilla Elworthy. I worked for 20 years with nuclear weapons policymakers, taking them to meet their opposite numbers in the then five nuclear nations, supporting them to develop ways to avoid the terrifying threat of nuclear war.
[See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla_Elworthy]
I handed this over to very able successors, enabling me to spend the next 20 years supporting local peace-builders and those making crucial decisions in conflict zones, starting an NGO called Peace Direct, since grown phenomenally, and to start The Business Plan for Peace in 2017.
The modules for The Mighty Heart came to me by surprise just before the Covid pandemic hit in 2019. I was sitting at my desk and wrote them down, because I sensed that people would need new skills to deal with a crisis that was on the way, although I had no idea what it was to be. Over the next few weeks this text became a book, called The Mighty Heart in Action.
Videos
Facilitators
We bring the Mighty Heart to life by enabling it to spread across different communities and cultures.
Polly McAfee
Head Facilitator, MH
Polly is an experienced trainer, therapist, author and group facilitator in the field of sexual empowerment and relationships. She helps participants live fully in their bodies and joyfully explore sensuality, free from inherited scripts about what they should be doing or should enjoy. Polly has also been instrumental in spreading the idea of crowd funding for social change through her co-founding of thefundingnetwork.org.uk . Last but not least, Polly is Scilla’s daughter, and delighted to be collaborating with The Mighty Heart, a beautiful overlap of their respective passions.
Richard Bellars
Facilitator, MH
As facilitator, coach and mentor, Richard accompanies individuals and groups that lead, for them to embrace future thinking earthed in daily life. He encourages them to be and act with heart-centred openness, to listen to and learn from each other, to serve by example rather than status, to embrace their work in the world as a force for good. He offers space to explore their edges and align ethics to embody what’s authentic and needed; to expand awareness, align values, shift thinking and behaviour; to serve the healthy regeneration of whole systems.
Tatjana Cadenovic
Facilitator, MH
With years as a corporate leader and business consultant, Tatjana brings a wealth of practical knowledge to her role as a coach and facilitator. She is a trained co-active coach, devoted Vipassana meditator and mindfulness expert. Since 2021, Tatjana has been a dedicated Mighty Heart facilitator, combining strategic business insight with deep emotional intelligence to foster transformative growth. Her approach is rooted in real-world expertise, creating spaces where clients unlock potential, overcome challenges, and thrive with clarity and purpose.
Aleka Vial
Facilitator, MH
Aleka has worked as a journalist and editor in Latin American media outlets and as an advisor on new narratives for public and private organizations. Since 1999, she has promoted Human Development for a new ethical, ecological and spiritual consciousness. In 2014, she cocreated Fundación Hypatia (www.hypatia.cl), a non-profit headquartered in Chile, that promotes Female Leadership and Spiritual Intelligence to accelerate the transition from an anthropocentric-industrial culture to an ecocentric-regenerative one. She is currently dedicated to teaching Heart Leadership to restore our sacred bond with nature and community of life.
Lisa Barnwell
Facilitator, MH
Lisa is an innovative leader and the Founder of ‘Leadership Redesigned’, working as a heart-centred change-agent, coach, facilitator and trainer. Her warmth, wisdom and candour allow her to work quickly at depth, catalysing transformation at the individual and organisational level and accelerating a new kind of leadership. Lisa is currently leading a collaboration between the Cultural Journey team at Lufthansa Group and Mighty Heart to embed deep listening into the organisation. The developing journey is helping employees reconnect to their emotions and communicate effectively, even in challenging situations.
Mighty Global Impact
The Mighty Heart is a product of the Business Plan for Peace, which offers the skills, knowledge and tried and tested strategies for preventing destructive conflict – which, if scaled up and extended over 10 years, can prevent armed violence around the world. We do this by promoting:
1. Conflict Transformation Skills
We recognise the importance of inner work in making change in the world more effective. We promote the skills of conflict transformation and aim to help them become known, valued and applied across sectors.
2. Innovative Investment
We bring together private investment, local peacebuilders and evidence gathering specialists to invest in peace.
The Board of Advisers of Business Plan for Peace includes: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, General the Lord David Ramsbotham GCB CBE, Nobel Peace Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Mr Mohamed El Ashry, Sir Mark Rylance, Professor Dr Kingsley Moghalu, Lord Browne, former Labour Defence Secretary, Dr Gertie Arts, Ministry of Defence, The Netherland, Mr Ravi Venkantesan and Steve Killelea, founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Want to know more?
For more information about courses please contact Sophia on contact@mightyheart.co.uk
