Intrusive Kindness

About Intrusive Kindness

Intrusive Kindness explores how care disrupts, repairs, and reshapes us. Through immersive storytelling and reflective conversations, PJ dives into human connection, self‑compassion, healing, and the emotional labour of practice. Stories of rupture, repair, and the unexpected ways kindness changes a life. These stories will arrive when they're ready. DISCLAIMER: All reflections are personal and not representative of any organisation or individual.

Publisher

PJ

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Jan 2026

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   The Cost of Truth-Telling: Child Protection, Trust & Imperfect Decisions

   Can doing the right thing still cause harm? In this deeply personal episode of Intrusive Kindness, PJ explores one of the most challenging realities of social work and child protection: the space between safety and trust. Through the story of a family he worked alongside for months, PJ reflects on the relationships that sit at the heart of effective child protection practice, the ethical dilemmas practitioners face when children's safety is at stake, and the unintended consequences that can follow even the most carefully considered decisions. This is not a story about heroes or villains. It's a story about competing responsibilities, the cost of truth-telling, and what happens when doing the right thing doesn't guarantee a painless outcome. Along the way, PJ reflects on: • Why relationships are the foundation of child protection work• The tension between relational trust and children's safety• The emotional impact of statutory intervention• The importance of supervision and reflective practice• Why ethical practice is rarely black and white• The courage required to carry the weight of imperfect decisions "Good practitioners aren't the ones who find perfect solutions. They're the ones who can carry the weight of imperfect ones." Whether you're a social worker, helping professional, student, leader, or someone interested in the realities behind safeguarding children, this episode offers an honest conversation about responsibility, uncertainty and courage.

2. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Humans Are Not Metrics: Social Work in a Marketised World

   In this powerful Season 3 opener, PJ returns to Australia after years working across NGOs and statutory systems in the UK only to step straight into the biggest ethical dilemma of his social work career. This episode dives deep into the world of Social Benefit Bonds (SIBs): market‑driven funding models where private investors bankroll social programs and governments repay them only if families achieve measurable change. What begins as innovation quickly becomes a confronting question what happens when human change is tied to financial return? PJ unpacks the ethical landscape of outcomes‑based funding, exploring how frontline social workers carry the emotional and professional weight of metrics they never financially benefit from. Drawing on leading research from Munro, Keddell, Gillingham, Broadhurst and Wastell, he reveals how risk, uncertainty, managerialism, and political climates shape decision‑making in child protection and family preservation work. Listeners are taken inside the tension between care and capital, where every preserved placement becomes a KPI, every crisis prevented becomes a data point, and every decision carries two futures: the family’s and the program’s. This episode asks the uncomfortable questions: Can you quantify a qualitative profession? What is a family worth? What is a worker worth? Who gets to decide? And what happens when the system tries to measure storms by counting rainfall? With cinematic storytelling, reflective practice, and philosophical depth, PJ explores the emotional reality of working in a marketised social work environment where ethical dilemmas collide with employment, survival, and the human need for stability. If you work in social services, child protection, community work, early intervention, or any outcomes‑driven program, this episode will resonate deeply. If you’re outside the sector, it will open your eyes to the hidden pressures shaping frontline decisions. Intrusive Kindness returns with its most challenging, honest, and thought‑provoking episode yet a conversation about ethics, humanity, and the systems that try to measure both.

3. 

   31 Aug 2026

   Why Practitioners Are Done With Instagram Self‑Care

   In this episode, PJ sits down with Charlotte to explore what authentic self‑care really looks like for people working in the helping professions. Moving beyond the glossy, performative versions of self‑care often seen on social media, this conversation dives into the quiet, practical rituals that keep practitioners grounded while supporting others. Charlotte shares her journey into child and family support work, shaped by her own lived experience and the long process of healing from childhood trauma. Together, PJ and Charlotte unpack how personal history often guides people into social work, and how that same history can make sustainable self‑care even more essential. They discuss the pressure to “perform” wellbeing, the reality of burnout, and the importance of finding practices that create genuine calm whether that’s knitting, creative flow states, or simple everyday rituals that help quiet the mind. Listeners will hear: How lived experience shapes the desire to help others Why self‑care in social work must be personal, accessible, and realistic The role of flow states in emotional regulation How repetitive, creative activities can support mindfulness The impact of social media on our understanding of wellbeing Why everyday self‑care matters long before the “iceberg moments” arrive This episode is a grounded, honest look at what it takes to stay afloat in the caring professions and a reminder that self‑care doesn’t need to be perfect, aesthetic, or performative. It just needs to be yours.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

15 ratings

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.