Meet our Parent and Carer Champions

When did you start your Championing at Anna Freud?

February 2024.

Why did you join as a Parent Champion? 

I suffered a lot while I was searching for information and support at the beginning of my parenting journey. Even understanding how to collaborate with the experts in the care system was challenging for me. As a mom I needed to connect and feed myself through reliable resources. In time I started regularly referring to information on Anna Freud webpages, and reading the Mentally Healthy Schools newsletter was a very nice practical source for me. When I saw an opportunity to contribute to Anna Freud so that their resources could be more accessible to all parents, I wanted to be a part of the team.

What has been your favourite activity so far?

I received First Aid for Mental Health training which contributed to my awareness over potential mental health emergencies and how could I be of help. Also, a project on developing an AI chatbot for parents searching for information on parenting issues, and child and young adult mental health was incredibly fulfilling. I felt I genuinely contributed something prominent.

What are you most looking forward to doing as a Champion?

To contribute to more projects as a champion to bring the most important perspective. I believe the perspective of children, young adults and parents are very crucial to incorporate so that all the valuable research developed practices could be utilised and support the targeted population.

What do you hope to achieve in your time as a Champion?

To see the completion of the AI Chatbot development by contributing as a Parent Champion.

What would you say has been one of the key things you have learnt, being a Champion?

Researchers and practitioners who are in Anna Freud projects are all doing their very best to deliver at the highest possible to make life easier for us parents and to make the children’s lives better. Knowing this gives me hope for the future of all children growing up in this country.

What are your future ambitions?

To be a kind and connected human being and to contribute to our common future.

Can you give us a random fact about you?

I am a Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher.

What advice would you give other parents and carers considering becoming a Parent Champion?

You will be surprised how your life experience contributes to work of Anna Freud and how much you are appreciated for sharing.

When did you start your Championing at Anna Freud?

I became a Parent and Carer Champion in February 2024.

Why did you join as a Champion? 

When I first heard about Anna Freud, I was really taken with their holistic approach to mental health - which includes support for young people struggling with their mental health but also support for the families of these young people. From experience I have learnt that parents, carers and families need this support to be able to be present for the young person.

I felt that it would be important to become an Anna Freud champion and use the opportunity to contribute to the work that they do and to help others. They really do listen to and appreciate your voice, as someone who has been through lived experience.

What has been your favourite activity so far?

There have been many activities I’ve enjoyed being part of as a Parent and Carer Champion, but a couple would be:

• taking part in the Mental Health First Aid for Young People pilot, testing a training course.

• contributing to the look and feel of the new Children Adolescent Mental Health Support (CAMHS) online referral portal, being tested in some areas.

I also enjoy the bi-monthly Parent and Carer Champion Panel meetings which bring champions together online and provide everyone with the opportunity to connect and update each other.

What do you hope to achieve in your time as a Champion?

Using my lived experience, I hope to have helped shape the products and services Anna Freud and their partners provide to help support children, young people, parents, carers and their families when they need it most.

What would you say has been one of the key things you have learnt, being a Champion?

Continue to appreciate other people’s perspectives.

What are your future ambitions?

I would love to continue to be a Parent and Carer Champion at Anna Freud. I have been volunteering as a counsellor at Childline for a few years and am training to become a counsellor in schools with Place2Be.

Can you give us a random fact about you?

Over the years, I have worked in three completely different industries in communications: textiles, internet start-up and for a local authority.

What advice would you give other parents and carers considering becoming a Parent Champion?

It’s definitely worthwhile, you will learn a lot, meet some lovely people and your voice will be listened to and appreciated.

Why did you join as Parent Champion?

Following a turbulent childhood, I wanted to show people that all is not lost if you face mental health issues in your life.  Mental health affects so many of us and it is so important that we all share our knowledge, experiences and support. I want to let people know that it is perfectly normal to face mental health problems in your life and that you do not need to suffer. Your future is ahead of you and you can drive it in any direction that you like!

What are you most looking forward to as a champion?

I am really looking forward to helping Anna Freud make a difference in the lives of others. Even if I can just make that one person make changes in their life or feel better about their future; we are all human and we all deserve to be happy and I would really like to be a person that helps with that. 

What do you hope to achieve as a Parent Champion?

I hope to share my experiences and help people understand that there is a brighter future ahead and that they are not alone or abnormal.  It is part of human nature to face these issues and I hope to help people to make their lives better. 

What is your background?

I wanted to study law but unfortunately, I struggled at university to afford it so I joined the Civil Service and trained there.  I eventually worked for a Big 4 Accountancy Firm before being lucky enough to give up work when my second child was born. 

Can you give us a random fact about you?

I used to literally do a Madonna when I was younger, and ‘lock the bedroom door and dance when no-one else could see’.  I secretly wanted to be a dancer. Not even my husband knows about this although when I am cooking dinner and dancing along to the music, he does say I have good moves!

Why did you join as Parent Champion?

As a birth and adoptive mother, I have become acutely aware of the difficulty many families face trying to obtain appropriate therapy and support both for their adopted, fostered or kinship child/children and the whole family; essential for best possible outcomes. Massive problems frequently follow without this help and understanding.

What are you most looking forward to as a champion and what do you hope to achieve?

I'm looking forward to developing new skills, to representing Anna Freud at events and conferences, bringing many ideas for areas of need and, more broadly, to all the help and support possible in my bid to improve outcomes for complex and developmental trauma!

What is your background?

The possibility to join Anna Freud as a Parent Champion was most welcome. I am already involved in a project where I hope to make a difference by sharing my experience with professionals so as to improve how existing services are delivered.

Can you give us a random fact about you?

I used to run my own catering company, exhausting yet great fun!

When did you start championing at Anna Freud?

I have been a parent champion for approximately four years after receiving poor mental health care in my local area. I wanted to see a positive come out of our experiences and shape future provision. 

Can you tell us more about yourself?

I am a parent to three and work within the NHS. 

Can you give us a random fact about you?

As a teenager I was once in a guard of honour for the Queen but moved at the crucial moment.

When did you start your Championing at Anna Freud?

I started on the 6 June 2019.

Why did you join as a Parent Champion at Anna Freud? 

I joined as a Parent Champion as I really want to make a difference, to help and support others particularly children and families to thrive and develop to their full potential.  I would like opportunities to share what I have learned in life that may be of benefit to Anna Freud and providing any support and input where I can.

Throughout my younger years I pretty much always felt anxious to varying degrees.   I have learned over the year practices that I enjoy sharing so the younger generation can learn in their early years ways to help be calm, confident, deal with life’s challenges and help fulfil their full potential.    I also have a deep appreciation of how challenging it can be in becoming a new parent particularly in this day and age; we don’t have the supportive communities in place that are conducive and nurturing for bringing up a family.    

What has been your favourite activity so far?

Taking part in the interview panel for the Family Trauma Team Clinicians Interviews.

What are you most looking forward to doing as a Champion?

Discovering how I can best support Anna Freud and in that developing myself.

What do you hope to achieve in your time as a Champion?

To make mental health less of a stigma – our mental health is just as important as our physical health, we are multi-faceted and our mind and body are intrinsically interdependent.  I want mental health to be openly talked about so people share their stories, open up more and hope that mental health will be on the national school curriculum, so from early years children learn about how their mind works and how we can best use our minds to help us lead a happy, fulfilling life.

What are your future ambitions?  To learn and gain more experience at Anna Freud.

Can you give us a random fact about you?

I deliver relaxation classes to children.

What advice would you give other parents/carers  considering becoming a Parent Champion?

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, open up to possibilities, we each have something to offer to help and support each other.