Our Team:
At Standing in the Gap our team is made up of interlinking groups: Trustees, Advisors, Volunteers and Prayer Partners.
Our trustees are drawn from a wide range of professional backgrounds but all have a passion to see improved mental health for children. We also have Sam our founder and Clinical Director on our trustee board. Sam is passionate about child mental health and supporting families before they hit crisis.
Our Advisors, we define these as individuals with a specific area of expertise or knowledge who we could tap into at specific points for specific information.
Our Volunteers are fabulous individuals who can help us with things such as: Laminating resources for our work packs; helping make up packs; Supporting us at talks- setting up the rooms/ showing people where to go/ giving out leaflets etc. Supporting us at fundraising events.
Our Prayer partners purposefully pray and support us at the annual Prayer and Praise celebration in February each year. They receive quarterly updates from us on how things are progressing and points for prayer. As a charity built on a Christian ethos we know the power of prayer is real. We work with people of all faiths and none.
Would you like to be part of our team? Click on the links to find out more information.
Michael is an experienced teacher and Careers Lead at the Warriner School in Bloxham. He has, over recent years, gained a lot of experience in supporting children at Secondary school, but often finds that this too late and feels much more support is needed sooner.
As a trustee he believes he can contribute much by increasing awareness among the people he is in contact with, thereby promoting the need for early intervention. In his experience he feels that mental health is often overlooked and neglected, particularly among boys.
Michael brings extensive contacts and experience of fundraising with him to the board of trustees.
Michael has taken on the role of Finance trustee
Michael Rafferty: Finance Trustee
Georgie feels a real connection to Banbury as a town, as she grew up here. She is an experienced Child and Adolescent Mental Health practitioner with children and young people often in crisis and having significant mental health issues. It was here that her passion for early intervention grew and she was struck by how frequently families said “if only we’d been seen earlier.” Georgie has a real passion for early intervention and knows first hand that improving mental health and preventing mental illness can have long term changes for children and families.
Georgie Knight: Trustee
Dr Melanie Rogers: Safeguarding Trustee
Melanie is a trained Chiropractor running her own Practice near Banbury.
Melanie is passionate about an holistic approach to early intervention. wellness and working and supporting families.
Melanie has taken on the role of Safeguarding trustee for Standing in the Gap.
Debra is Banbury born and bred. She is an experienced teacher with a good network of connections to local primary schools.
Debra is passionate about early years and helping to support families together, and empowering those around the child. She sees Standing in the Gap as meeting a need by giving families and children the information they need to be proactive in supporting wellbeing.
Debra Elwyn: Trustee
Michelle is passionate about early intervention and supporting families. Michelle has lived in Bloxham since 2013, UK born Michelle went back to Nigeria with her parents from the ages of 5 to 16 years old.
Michelle has worked in a variety of jobs and volunteering positions and understands the long term impact of trauma and life events on families.
Michelle Jemade: Trustee
Sam is an experienced health professional with a national reputation around child mental health. She has worked with children and families for over 20 years and written and delivered professional training around early intervention in respect of children’s mental health. In 2016 Sam completed her M.Sc. in Child and Adolescent Health and completed research in Banbury looking at the incidence and gaps around child mental health. It was following this research that Standing in the Gap was developed to supply professional advice and support to families.
