About

I'm interested in doing things with people, not for them — working in community & collaboration.

I'm Theodora Cadbury — a peer learning facilitator and participation consultant.
What I'd most want you to take from this page: I hold spaces lightly and my values strongly.

About

From a youth-led movement to shifting power across the sector.

Some of my most formative years were spent in a youth movement completely led by and for young people. I was facilitating from the age of 17, in spaces that made room for creativity and play alongside individual reflection and collective questioning. In the decades working in the voluntary and public sector since, I've never stopped seeking out that way of working.

In 2016 I co-founded Xenia – a participatory community for migrant and non-migrant women to connect and learn together in Hackney. As the non-hierarchical organising team grew, Xenia established itself locally and nationally and I began training others in our facilitation model. Since stepping back in 2021, Xenia has expanded to two new locations and continues to thrive.

Since then I have supported small and large charities through a combination of learning facilitation and lived experience & participation consultancy, alongside volunteering and writing. Seeing how often the people championing participation felt isolated in their organisations is what led me to create Shift Circle.

Image of Theo

What I bring

How I hold space is shaped by who I am

The way I facilitate is not only shaped by my professional experience. I grew up across two different cultural backgrounds, and am well practised at mediating through hurt and conflict. As well as being a committed anti-racist and intersectional feminist, I'm also queer, Jewish, and a white woman - a dominant identity in the charity sector. All of these shape how I show up in my work, and how I hold space.

I take my own positionality seriously: I'm committed to my own ongoing anti-oppressive learning and practice, and to noticing how power moves in a room. None of this is about perfection - I am constantly reflecting and improving my practice as a trauma-informed, power-aware facilitator. My aim is always to hold space for difference, unafraid to challenge when words and actions drift from values. Without that, any attempts at collective learning and change will be limited to personal growth for some, and alienation for others.

Beyond the work
Outside of client work you'll find me swimming in the sea, seeking out trees, reading about food and culture, cooking for friends, writing and sharing poetry, and involved in local activist groups. I am a board member of my LGBTQ+ choir, a trustee at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, and volunteer with Bystanders No More. It's all part of the same commitment: to community, and to collective liberation.

Practices, traditions & thinkers I draw on

My approach

Trained in...

  • Action Learning Set facilitation

  • Lewis Deep Democracy

  • Thinking Environment

  • The Politics of Trauma

  • Theatre of the Oppressed

  • Deep Conflict Transformation

  • Trauma Informed Practice


Also draws on...

  • Liberating Structures

  • Elements of sociocracy

  • Reflective practice

  • Embodied anti-racism

  • Creativity and play


Inspired by...

  • Indigenous learning circles

  • Poetry

  • Paolo Freire

  • adrienne maree brown

  • John Paul Lederach

  • The natural world

  • Social justice movements around the world.

    • Trussell

    • Macmillan

    • Alzheimer's Society

    • Independent Age

    • Plan for Peace

    • Camerados

    • Disability Law Service

    • Global Assembly

    • Salmon Youth Centre

    • just festival

    • Refugee Action

    • Greater London Authority

    • School for Social Entrepreneurs

    • Groundwork.

    • Founder of Xenia

    • Co-Production Collective at UCL

    • Climate Migration Collaborative.

Where I've worked

My approach

This work is part of a bigger vision towards collective liberation.

Why this matters to me

If communities were making their own decisions instead of just on the receiving end of services, we'd be working towards social change differently — less defined by financial structures and philanthropy, more led by grassroots community action. Currently, the short timelines and urgency culture created by funding pressures leave little room to listen to what's already working, or to learn from past mistakes. All my work is, in different ways, a response to that.

Let’s talk…

If something here resonates, get in touch — and let me know which part of the work you're interested in.

Get in touch → 
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