The Team

Iona Lawrence, Co-Founder

Iona leads the day-to-day operations of The Decelerator. Her passion for bringing endings out of the shadows and putting them on the table emerged gradually over decade working in civil society organisations. Over this time Iona was part of some suboptimal endings, some better ones, and even some pretty good ones! Iona brings with her experience across civil society, from being founding Executive Director of the Jo Cox Foundation, to being a community organiser in the refugee camps in Northern France for Citizens UK, to being a trustee of the Rural Coffee Caravan, and many other things in between.

Louise Armstrong, Co-Founder

Louise plays a strategic role in The Decelerator. In her current 10 year cycle she’s wanting to make a contribution to reframing the culture and practices around how we view and value loss, grief, death and closures as part of the natural cycles of life and the overlooked part of transformation. Louise plays multiple roles in different parts of the change ecosystem and sees herself as a change maker, facilitator, systems change designer, coach and process doula.

Linda Craig, Operations and Finance Lead

Linda works alongside Iona leading on the set up of The Decelerator and piloting its offer to civil society. She is an experienced long-term and interim manager in the voluntary sector, having covered senior positions in a variety of organisations such as Vauxhall City Farm, Suzy Lamplugh Trust, Doteveryone, the International Longevity Centre and Switchback. Her permanent roles have included Co-Director at Drugscope, General Secretary of Quaker Peace and Social Witness and Director of Pesticide Action Network.  

Thanks and Acknowledgements

The Decelerator has received funding for a pilot phase from Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn and Pears Foundation. We are immensely grateful to them for their support.

We are grateful to the following organisations who went above and beyond to support The Decelerator its pilot phase:

  • New Constellations who acted as our fiscal and legal hosts for The Decelerator in our pilot phase.

  • The agency Ave who gave us some pro-bono studio time to create The Decelerator’s brand.

  • NCVO for providing us with desk space.

The Decelerator is an initiative that emerged from research and endings support tested through Stewarding Loss. We are grateful to the catalytic energy and foresight of Cassie Robinson and the Stewarding Loss initiative without whom this project might never have existed. The broader work of Stewarding Loss around conscious closures, hospice work, and transitions will continue both in the UK and internationally - initially with a focus on funder and wealth holder communities, and broader cultural practices and narratives in relation to loss. The Decelerator has a complimentary focus which is to meet the urgent and growing need for practical support for endings in UK civil society.