What we do
We provide custom made listening workshops to help create and cultivate a healthy communication culture.
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Why we do it
Because we have forgotten how to truly connect with each other.
Because feeling heard is essential to our sense of self-worth.
Because only 2% of people have any form of training in listening despite it being the form of communication we use the most.
Because we want to embrace difference. Social media has created a binary culture where we only engage with people who we agree with, becoming more entrenched in our own narrow view of the world. Only by sitting and being open to embrace different outlooks can we truly understand others which enables us to solve problems, compromise and move forward.
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With an approach rooted in the performing arts, our team brings a creative perspective to corporate settings, aligning our vision with the core values of the businesses we partner with and fostering a culture of understanding and inclusivity.
Who we are + where we came from
Facilitators
My name is Fred Gray - the Founder of Heard Together. I trained as an actor at RADA and have performed and directed on the West End and Broadway. I have spent 20 years in the creative space honing how to best communicate. This exercise was invented as a way of generating material for a show I directed about 20 years ago. During COVID, when people were physically separated I decided to do it online with friends as a way of bringing people together as I felt people craved stories and other people outside of their enforced isolated existence. The feedback I got from it lead me onto a sort of social experiment where I reached out to strangers who didn't know me or each other; of different demographics of people (eg only men, only women, over 60's, comedians, LGBTQ+ community). Before every session I would have a feeling that 'this will be the one that doesn't work' - but every single one did. Using a seemingly simple set of rules and carefully structured questions together we created mini-communities in a very short amount of time.
Several people suggested that they would love to do it at their place of work and my research into the corporate world revealed to me that the power of listening and being listened to is being dangerously overlooked.
I have assembled a team of facilitators who are all expert communicators and have been trained in the Heard Together method.
Alana Ramsay
Jamie Birkett
Stef Lindwall
Alex Cobb
Shanaya Rafaat
Ross Green
Stephanie de Whalley
Sophie Allen
Tom Gordon
Rosie Abraham
Testimonials
"Forget dry boardroom training workshops and powerpoint presentations, prepare to be inspired in a totally different way"
Carolyn Fursse,
Head of Communication and Engagement
"It gave me a more in-depth understanding of our groups personalities, communication/listening skills, which will then help with my relationships with them moving forward..the exercise gives you a wonderful insight into how well you and others listen and communicate."
Lucy Forbes
Office Manager
"I feel whatever environment this workshop was in done in the particiapnts would learn so much more about each other and feel closer as a group after participating in it.
​ it gave the students an opportunity to speak, knowing they would not be interrupted which is something many of them will never have experienced before in their lives."
Rae McKen
Assistant Director of Theatre
"After Fred’s workshop there is always a change in the students. They feel more connected to each other while feeling more confident in themselves to express their views, knowing that the group supports them. Trust is key, and Fred’s exercise in story telling and active listening is instrumental in building on this trust so that the students can allow themselves to feel empowered as individuals, take risks, and be vulnerable in the knowledge that they will be listened to with respect."
“I remember noticing that I had a very different outlook on life from another person. And then they gave a backstory which made me understand them better. I liked that. Like we’re all just working with what we’ve got. And there’s a kindness there with understanding.”
Lucy Trodd
Actor/Writer/Improviser
what better way to rekindle our awareness and relationships with the people around us than to listen to them tell stories and share your own. No pressure, no expectations, just stories.”
Tom Babbage
Actor
Helen Strange
Course Leader and Founder
“a community exercise, something that builds bonds and lets you truly hear people without judgement.
Ethan Moorhouse
Actor
"I could see that the words I spoke meant something to people. It's one of those thoughts that has been with me a long time and I have often thought about it and still do, and imagine I always will.”
Jackson Pentland
Actor
“It was fascinating how fast we became a company.”
Jenny Rainsford
Actor
“I was enjoying the other people's stories so much, and enjoying the sheer unpredictability of it all, that I was never caught up with my own responses.”
Mikey Wooster
Actor
“I realised the importance of listening…it was really useful to be aware that I should let others take the space, and to thoroughly enjoy sitting back and listening.”
Laura Morgan
Actor
“Different stories from different people allowed for deeper listening and ultimately made the whole experience quite cathartic.”
Jake Burgum
Actor
“an intimate, entertaining and intriguing way to get to know strangers (or not-so-strangers) better in a safe and relaxed environment”
Oliver Senton
Actor
"An evening of chatting and listening that is structured like group therapy, but with the heart and essence of a really good ‘date’."
Sophie Shad
Actor
“Unbelievably, I'd never really thought about the difference between 'listening to just listen' rather than 'listening to respond' before..this exercise really made me think about that and I feel like I've altered the way I communicate since doing it.”
Kate Malyon
Actor
“I learnt that actually it's ok - and often preferable in fact - to just sit and listen rather than feeling you have to interject or expand on other peoples' stories.”