A Christian Response to Children’s Mental Health Today. - Fegans
Speakers: Ian Soars, CEO of Fegans
Francis Davis, Birmingham University
MPs: Caroline Ansell MP TBC
Our final Prayer Breakfast was on the Theme of Child Mental Health focusing on the work of the Charity Fegans. We were joined on our panel by Ian Soars, CEO of Fegans, Francis Davis from Birmingham University and by Caroline Ansell MP and Andrew Selous MP.
Fegans exists to bring hope to the lives of children, families and communities in towns across the UK. They do this through life transforming counselling, family restorative support, providing safe environments for at risk children & their parents and building communities through culture changing programs.
Fegans operate in 100 schools out of 5 family centres meeting providing over 9000 counselling sessions to over 500 families. Their operational aim is to reach 1 million children every year. They bring hope to our local communities across the UK through professional services which provide a holistic support structure for children and their families regardless of their need; Psychological, emotional or mental.
Francis Davis
Francis Davis works at the intersection of business, civil society, and central and local government. He is interested in questions of governance, human rights, civic innovation, poverty reduction and enterprise especially as applied to communities with complex challenges. Francis is Director of Public Policy for the Edward Cadbury Centre, a member of the Department of Health's Independent Advisory Group on Carers, lives in Southampton and is a mental health carer. He helped establish the Southern Policy Centre, and published ‘Beyond Caring: The South and the Collapse of Social Adult Care’ exploring the intersection of public and charity provision on local commission and care services.
Ian Soars
Ian joined Fegans in July 2014 with a remit to bring transformation and growth. Ian had spent the last near 2 decades at Hays plc as the UK Delivery Director working with high profile organisations to design, evaluate and implement complex large volume national recruitment programs. Ian has been married to Nicky for 25 years and together they have 3 daughters, Jemima 11 and Gabriella and Olivia, both 9.
Ian is a passionate Christian whose driver is to see Fegans demonstrate the goodness and love of God through expert, qualified care and compassion to vulnerable children and families across the UK.
Caroline was elected as an MP in 2015, she is a former teacher and school inspector and is the mother of three sons. An activist for many years, Caroline was also a Meads Councillor on Eastbourne Borough Council, dealing with people’s problems and always endeavouring to maintain the best quality of life for local residents. She is passionate about the family and believes that strong families lead to strong societies.
Elected to Parliament for South West Bedfordshire in 2001, he served on the Work and Pensions select committee for the whole of that Parliament.