Have you ever wondered what people don’t want to talk about? Talking Taboos has uncovered the answers and will unveil the top four taboo topics of 2024 in an evening of honest and courageous conversation at The Conduit. From hidden struggles in mental and physical health to the societal norms that keep us silent, we’ll delve into the subjects we only whisper about and explore what happens when we break the silence and speak openly.

Speakers:

Flo Nolan (she/her) is the Associate Director of Talking Taboos, and runs the charity with Kat. She is also a qualitative and design researcher with expertise working on taboo topics such as cancer, debt, suicide and the Covid 19 pandemic. She is a member of Common Collective.

Katherine Jennings (she/her) is Director of Talking Taboos and Founder and Member of Common Collective, a social impact not for profit design and research collective. Kat is a researcher and behaviour change expert with a wealth of experience in taboo subjects such as mental health, suicide, cancer, death and menopause.

Louise McLaren is Chair of Trustees at Talking Taboos and MD of LoveBrands, an insight-led strategic marketing agency. She is a founding member of MarketingKind, a fellow of the RSA, and a member of The Conduit. She has lived experience of one of our focal taboos for 2025.

Dr Yansie Rolston PhD is an author, campaigner and with expertise is in health equity and providing technical expertise to statutory organisations including the Health service, businesses, civil society and international agencies. As a researcher, skilled trainer and facilitator she creates, affects and sustains change at all levels in order to improve physical, mental and social well being. She works across Europe, Africa, America and the Caribbean designing and implementing health equity strategies. Yansie founded You and Me Menopause in 2014 to raise awareness of diversity in menopause. She is the executive producer of 4 menopause documentary films -Our Menopause: the Black Woman; Queer & Menopausal; Migrant Women – periods and cycles in transition; and Our Menopause: Afro-Brazilian and African Women.

Benjy Kusi (@benjy_lookbook) is a British-Ghanaian inclusion and wellbeing consultant. He helps organisations and people across the UK and the world meet their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, and create spaces where everyone can thrive and be their best selves. He’s also built a community of 230,000+ people on social media, where he produces helpful educational content on topics such as anti-racism, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and self-care. Additionally, Benjy is the author of “Hope this Helps: How to be Kinder to Yourself and Others” a practical guide to the practice of self-care, empathy, and conscious inclusion that was published in February 2023. His overall mission is to equip and empower people to make a positive difference – in their lives, and the lives of others.

Talking Taboos is a charity tackling challenging social issues that are often overlooked because they are seen as ‘taboo’, or not suitable for discussion. Our work combines community, research, design and awareness-raising.

A message from Talking Taboos:

Safeguarding notice

We believe that taboo topics need urgent attention and to be brought into conversation.

We believe that taboo topics need urgent attention and to be brought into conversation in a safe and supportive way. However we are mindful that everyone has different lived experiences of the taboos in this year’s report and we wanted to let you know the sensitive topics that we will be covering on Thursday so that you can make the decision about coming that is right for you.

The topics we will be touching on at the event will include:
● body identity and fat phobia
● suicidal thoughts
● non-recent child sexual abuse
● and stigma and abuse faced by parents of children with SEN needs.

We will be talking about the impacts caused by the taboo nature of these topics as part of a panel discussion and having practical conversations about how to tackle these taboos and prevent isolation and suffering caused by the taboos. If you are impacted by the taboos you can access support via Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) or Samaritans, by calling 116 123 for free 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.