Where is the hope?

Field note #1 from my Churchill Fellowship

MY DIARY ENTRY was this: Monday 19th January 2026. Day 1 Churchill Fellowship. Meeting with Dr Jane Goodall in London.

ACTION: cancelled 03/10/25

My first official meeting as part of my Churchill Fellowship was planned to be in London with Dr Jane. Given my history and connection to Dr Jane, and her influence on me, my thinking was to meet with her and seek her counsel on the questions I am taking in to my Fellowship journey and her guidance on the best way to make the most of this opportunity. The meeting was locked in and my Fellowship itinerary adjusted around this.

Of course this all changed on 1st October 2025 when Jane died suddenly in her sleep while on tour in LA.

My daughter had the suggestion that I still allocate this day to honouring Jane, and being the spiritual person that I am I knew this was what I needed to do. Jane can still guide me, just in a different way now. I just need to dedicate time and heart and tune in. And still ask the questions.

So on Sunday 18th January I kicked off my fellowship with a day trip to Bournemouth to visit Jane’s family home and meet with her sister, Judy, now 87 years old. As part of this visit I delivered the condolences book created by the Cherished Pets community. I shared a beautiful conversation with Judy about Jane’s final months and had the opportunity to give dear Mr H once last cuddle. That was when I felt very emotional. It was a moment I needed to experience.

This visit was a personal and private one, so the details are not to be shared here. I did a huge walk to honour Jane in Bournemouth, and over the day, including a two hour return train ride from London, I fell in to my place for my heart, head and body, for these next weeks.

I also caught up with some of my JGI Family while in London - dearest Mary Lewis (pic below with me), and also Erika Helms from JGI-Global and some old colleagues from my JGI-China days. Our world is very small indeed.

Where is the Hope? was the question that burns for me.

Hope is something Dr Jane was known for - as a UN Messenger of Peace she talked about hope, wrote books about Hope, has a podcast “Hopecast” and inspired hope. Her Reasons for Hope have become a reference point for so many people and the book titled the same propelled me on a new course when I first read it in 2002.

And this is a tough call with cost of living pressures, overwhelm in shelters and rescue, a siloed system across animal welfare and human services.

As Jane says “we must never give up”. And we won’t.

In this Fellowship, I am investigating the intersection of social and veterinary services.

I have many questions that I am taking with me in to this journey - more than 40 meetings over 8 weeks and across four countries.

Why am I doing this?: The intention of my project is to inform and enhance the future delivery of social veterinary services in Australia. (I also scribed a poem in response to this question which is pasted at the end of this piece)

How might that actually look?

What lessons and insights can we bring to our Cherished Pets HABCare Model?

Is scale possible? How is it possible?

What are the themes?

Where is the funding?

What is emerging?

What don’t I know that I don’t know?

Cultivating these qualities for this journey: Curiosity. An open mind. Open heart. Compasssion.

And then, just as I was contemplating hope (and not finishing this post!), my friend and mentor from Global Leadership Foundation, Gayle Hardie published this piece, “In Hope”, (on Feb 3rd which also happens to be my Mum’s birthday):

Timing is everything and this piece has resonated deeply for me:

Gayle says, “In hope there is longing for something more; in hope there is a desire for what might be; in hope there is deep caring for the potential in all of us; in hope there is love for all who hope”. “Hope is an active engagement with possibility – a recognition that while we cannot control everything that happens around us, we can influence how we show up, how we relate to others and the impact we choose to have.”

Leading in hope, from a place of emotionally healthy leadership - allowing for complexity, emergence and imperfection. Always moving forward, stepping in to that complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity that Gayle talks about in her piece. Practising how I show up today.

“In hope there is a desire for what might be. This desire connects us to our vision and purpose. It helps us see beyond the immediate pressures and constraints to what could emerge if we bring our best selves to our work, our relationships and our communities. Leaders operating from higher emotional health levels don’t just react to the present; they actively shape the future through the choices they make today”. - Gayle

As I commit to this work, the questions that are shaping my exploration:

1. What are the problems around the Human-Animal Bond that we are seeking to solve?

2. What are some of the solutions and pathways?

3. What is needed from here?

4. What can we do together that we can’t do apart?

I’d love to hear from you too! Please share your thoughts and comments below and/or email me anytime alicia@cherishedpetcare.com.au.

Famous Last Words: I’ve watched this Netflix special twice now, which shares a special final conversation with Dr Jane. I was intrigued and interested to hear Jane speak about Churchill in her final interview. The coming together of my worlds: Jane says in this interview: “It’s like Churchill in the war. When Britain was the last nation standing up to Nazi Germany, Britain was not prepared for war because of Chamberlain, but we had Churchill. And you know his famous speech: We’ll fight them on the beaches and we’ll fight them in the streets and the cities. And then he turned aside to a friend and was heard to say, and we’ll fight them at the ends of broken bottles because that’s all we’ve bloody well got. He roused the spirit of the British people. I guess he was as obstinate as me. You need a Churchill in the fight who says, we’re never quitting even when it’s the darkest. This gives people hope”.

Hopecast series - I especially loved this episode with Paul Polman who happens to be one of my business leader heroes, author of Net Positive.

Jane’s book, The Book of Hope and Reasons for Hope

Echoing Dr Jane’s Final Words: “Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope you become apathetic and do nothing”.

So .. I am in deep hope. On my fellowship. Meeting amazing people doing incredible things. Behind in my writing. But doing, hoping, becoming…

My poem written on the day I went to Bournemouth:

“I am here

Because

I am doing what I need to do

A calling?

My purpose?

Beyond me

This is beyond me

Actually

So I show up

Today

And tomorrow

And the day after and then the day after that

For you

In my knowing

In hope

For a kinder world for pets

and their people

For Dad

For Dr Jane

For Gracie

And Percy and Georgie and Monty and Abbie and a thousand others who I have loved and love 💕

In gratitude

Deepest gratitude

To you

To GK

To my girls and their boys

And my community

For you

And with you

Together

And Forward

And beyond “

NEXT POST: My visit to UK where I met incredible people bringing hope to the Human-Animal Bond.

Onwards and upwards we go together!!

Love Lissi

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