Max & Maya Consulting
Helping organisations work safely, clearly, and with care
We support charities, community organisations, education settings, and values-led teams to work ethically, reduce harm, and create cultures where people can do their work well without burning out.
We work with senior leaders, trustees, safeguarding leads, HR/People teams, and those holding responsibility for culture and care.
Our Work
Max & Maya Consulting supports organisations to work ethically, safely, and humanely — especially where power, care, and vulnerability intersect.
Our work is grounded in safeguarding practice, relational leadership, and trauma-aware ways of working. We bring together professional expertise and lived understanding, offering practical support that helps organisations strengthen boundaries, reduce harm, and make decisions they can stand behind.
Organisations often come to us feeling unsure, overwhelmed, or worried about getting things wrong. Our role is not to catch people out or impose a single “right” way of working. We help organisations think more clearly, strengthen responsibility, and act with confidence — even in complex or imperfect situations.
How We Work
Clear core offers, shaped to your context
We work using a core workshop and consultancy model. This means we offer a small number of clearly defined areas of practice that organisations usually approach us for directly (such as safeguarding, leadership, or trauma-aware working).
Each piece of work is then shaped to your specific context. We tailor emphasis, examples, and discussion to your roles, setting, and responsibilities, rather than delivering generic or off-the-shelf training.
This approach keeps our work both contained and relevant - grounded in established frameworks, while responding thoughtfully to real-world complexity.
One-off workshops and training sessions
Half-day and full-day programmes
Facilitated reflective practice spaces
Ongoing consultancy and advisory support
Our work is collaborative, proportionate, and grounded. We focus on clarity, responsibility, and care - not box-ticking or one-size-fits-all solutions.
What You Can Expect
Our work is:
Non-shaming and non-punitive
Clear about roles, limits, and accountability
Grounded in professional boundaries and ethical responsibility
Focused on learning and improvement rather than blame
We do not provide therapy, clinical supervision, or crisis intervention. Our work supports organisations to think well, act responsibly, and reduce harm within their existing roles and structures.
Core Areas of Work
1. Safeguarding, Boundaries & Ethical Practice
This is the foundation of our consultancy work.
We support organisations to think clearly and confidently about safeguarding, boundaries, and ethical responsibility - particularly in relational, care-focused, or community-based roles where lines can easily blur.
Safeguarding does not have to be frightening or punitive. We approach it as a shared responsibility, rooted in clarity, proportion, and care. Our work helps teams feel more confident responding to concerns, documenting decisions, and acting appropriately — without panic or paralysis.
Common areas include:
Safeguarding in close or informal working relationships
Boundaries in caring, leadership, and frontline roles
Ethical decision-making where there are no simple answers
Self-disclosure, power, and responsibility
Dual roles and working within your own community
This work is particularly relevant for therapists, youth workers, charity staff, peer supporters, and small organisations where people often hold multiple roles.
2. Kind Leadership & Team Culture
We work with leaders and teams to develop leadership practices that are both compassionate and boundaried.
Kind leadership is not about lowering standards or avoiding accountability. It is about creating clarity, consistency, and trust — and knowing how to repair when things go wrong.
Many leaders carry significant emotional and ethical responsibility, often without space to reflect. Our work supports leaders to lead with care, without carrying everything alone.
This work may include:
Leading without fear, dominance, or shame
Accountability that supports learning rather than blame
Managing conflict and rupture within teams
Power, responsibility, and decision-making
Supporting leaders who hold high emotional labour
3. Trauma-Aware Ways of Working
We help organisations understand how stress, trauma, and burnout show up at a systems level — and how workplace culture can either reduce or intensify harm.
Being trauma-aware does not mean lowering expectations or turning managers into therapists. Our approach avoids clinical language and focuses on practical, proportionate changes that make work clearer, safer, and more sustainable.
Topics may include:
Psychological safety and predictability at work
Why burnout is often a systems issue rather than individual failure
Moving beyond “resilience” narratives
Creating structures that do not rely on over-giving
Supporting staff appropriately without role blur
4. Reflective Practice & Contained Thinking Spaces
We offer facilitated reflective spaces that allow teams and leaders to think carefully about their work, decisions, and responsibilities.
These sessions are not therapy or formal supervision. They provide structure, containment, and ethical reflection — particularly where there is uncertainty or fear of saying the “wrong” thing.
Reflective practice may be offered as:
Group reflection sessions
Leadership reflection spaces
Post-incident or post-change processing
Ongoing reflective support
This strand often supports long-term cultural change and more sustainable practice.
Specialist Experience
Alongside our core areas of work, we bring specialist experience in:
Working with young people and communities
LGBTQIA+ inclusion
Neurodivergent inclusion
Supporting trans people
These are areas where we offer depth and lived understanding rather than tick-box training. This expertise is integrated thoughtfully into our safeguarding, leadership, and trauma-aware work.
About Us
Grounded expertise, shaped by lived experience
We support charities, community organisations, education settings, and values-led teams to work ethically, safely, and with care - particularly where people hold responsibility for others and where boundaries can easily blur.
Our work is informed by both professional expertise and lived experience. As queer and neurodivergent leaders, we understand how systems, culture, and unspoken expectations can either support people to thrive or quietly cause harm.
Together, we bring over 14 years’ experience each in community leadership, safeguarding, therapeutic and trauma-aware practice, and organisational development. We are co-founders of Proud2Be, an LGBTQIA+ community organisation we have led since 2011, supporting individuals, teams, and communities to grow with care, clarity, and sustainability.
Through Proud2Be, we have:
Led and safeguarded community spaces supporting LGBTQIA+ people
Designed and delivered training across education, charity, and public sectors
Spoken nationally, including on the TEDx stage
Secured and stewarded over £1 million in grant funding within the non-profit sector
This experience means we understand both the human impact and the structural responsibility of this work - not just in theory, but in practice.
Who We Are
Max (they/them)
Max is a queer, neurodivergent leader, coach, and creative practitioner. They are a co-founder of Proud2Be and bring over 14 years’ experience supporting LGBTQIA+ communities and organisations to grow with care.
Their work sits at the intersection of inclusive leadership, safeguarding, and organisational change, grounded in a background in youth work, training, and community development. Max is known for helping people feel safe, seen, and connected — bringing warmth, clarity, and creativity into spaces where difficult conversations need to happen.
Alongside consultancy and training, Max is also a songwriter and speaker, using creative approaches to support reflection, resilience, and connection.
Maya (she/her)
Maya is a queer, neurodivergent integrative therapist, coach, and consultant with over 14 years’ experience supporting LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent people through change, healing, and growth.
As a co-founder of Proud2Be, she brings a calm, trauma-aware and relational approach to leadership, culture, and organisational life. Maya specialises in helping individuals and teams slow down, make sense of complexity, and develop ways of working that are sustainable rather than depleting.
Her work is rooted in deep listening, ethical boundaries, and an understanding of how personal experience, identity, and systems interact — supporting people and organisations to move forward with clarity and care.
How We Work Together
We bring complementary skills and perspectives, combining practical safeguarding and leadership experience with reflective, relational ways of working.
As twins and long-term collaborators, we bring a high level of trust, attunement, and shared responsibility to our work - while remaining clear about roles, boundaries, and accountability.
We work collaboratively with organisations - not as external experts imposing solutions, but as thoughtful partners who support clarity, responsibility, and proportionate practice. Our approach is grounded, humane, and responsive to context.
Our Boundaries
We bring complementary skills and perspectives, combining practical safeguarding and leadership experience with reflective, relational ways of working.
We work collaboratively with organisations — not as external experts imposing solutions, but as thoughtful partners who support clarity, responsibility, and proportionate practice. Our approach is grounded, humane, and responsive to context.
Why Organisations Choose to Work With Us
Organisations work with us because we are:
Calm, steady, and experienced in complex environments
Clear about boundaries, roles, and responsibility
Able to hold difficult conversations without blame or defensiveness
Grounded in safeguarding rather than ideology
Focused on reducing harm and supporting sustainable practice
Work With Us
Reaching out for support can feel like a big step. We’re happy to begin with a conversation, without pressure or expectation, to think together about what would best support your organisation - whether that’s a single session or longer-term work.
Fees & Accessibility
Our fees reflect the preparation, experience, and care involved in this work. We aim to be transparent while recognising that organisations vary in size, structure, and resources.
As a guide:
Half-day sessions: £500
Full-day sessions: £1,000
Ongoing consultancy and reflective practice are agreed based on scope and duration. We are always clear about costs in advance and are open to conversations about accessibility and budget constraints, particularly with small charities and community organisations.
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"Max is great, so full of enthusiasm and care. While delivering workshops, Max encourages openness and discovery and would offer lots of experience and support to a mentee."
- Dan Barton, CEO at Space Youth Services
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“Max & Maya are very warm people and created an authentic space where we were all able to look at our own practices and how we work with LGBTQIA+ people.”
- Practitioner, Arts & Health Charity, Devon
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"What made this training special was Max & Maya – they created such a warm, inclusive space for open conversations, which I haven't really experienced in other training sessions."
- Arts Administration & Evaluation Officer at an Arts & Culture Centre in North Somerset