In this episode, Katie speaks with Bernadette Russell, a storyteller, author and passionate tree planter whose work invites us to pay closer attention to the quiet magic of everyday life. Bernadette weaves together stories, community action and environmental care into a body of work that is both deeply hopeful and fiercely grounded.
“It provided me with an opportunity to look at the same garden, but from a different window.” - Bernadette Russell
We cover:
What inspired her to do a daily act of kindness for 366 days – and how it changed everything
The role of hope in dark times, and how it coexists with grief, rage and despair
Why kindness is more powerful than we think – and often quietly everywhere
Stories from her tree planting, storytelling, and community projects
The media response to the 2011 London riots – and why it fuelled her mission
The difference between performative and meaningful action – and why small matters
The tension between anger and hope, and how we hold both
What it means to notice goodness, and how it can change how we feel in the world
This conversation is a gentle, powerful reminder that hope doesn’t require perfect circumstances, and kindness doesn’t need to be grand to be meaningful.
More from Bernadette:
Website: www.bernadetterussell.com
Instagram: @bernadetterussell
Books: Conversations of Kindness & How to Be Hopeful (these are affiliate links)
More from Katie:
Instagram: @katietreggiden.1
Website: https://katietreggiden.com/
Nature-inspired poetry: https://brackishbykatietreggiden.substack.com/t/poetry
Resources mentioned:
The Spiritual Poems of Rumi (this is an affiliate link)
Check out the full Bookshop.org podcast reading list to find links to all the books mentioned throughout Season 6 of Brackish.
What next?
If all this talk of defiant hope has got you wondering where you can find some, I have something for you. Cultivating Hope is my three-part mini-course and it’s the three steps I move through whenever I start to feel despair tugging at my edges.
You will move out of ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode and into a calm and connected state, reconnect with nature, and find aligned actions that you can take now to keep you to remind you that you can make a difference.
In the current climate, hope is an act of defiance, and it’s one I hope you’ll take with me.
