Rather than simply presenting research or describing the consequences of parental conflict, I wanted participants to experience something of its emotional reality. Performance placed them inside recognisable family situations and encouraged them to consider those moments from different perspectives, particularly that of the child.

That shift mattered.

Parental conflict can easily become another professional term: something to identify, assess or refer on. Narrative helped reconnect the concept to lived experience. It made the impact more immediate, more human and harder to dismiss as simply another piece of information.

The aim was not to turn participants into specialists in a single session. It was to change what they noticed.

If a practitioner became more likely to recognise parental conflict within a family, ask different questions or seek out further training, then awareness had begun to translate into action.

The programme was delivered across the East Midlands over two years and led to repeat bookings from other parts of the UK after organisations heard about the approach.

The work has also continued to develop. Following the success of the programme, 2 Pears Films has now been commissioned to produce a film raising awareness of the impact of parental conflict, taking the same central principle into a format that can reach a much wider audience.

The project demonstrates something central to my work: information can tell people that an issue matters, but narrative can help them understand its human significance.

And when that understanding changes what people notice, it can also begin to change what they do.