Celebrated British actress lends her voice to UK children’s charity

Award-winning writer and actor Sally Phillips has today been announced as an ambassador for UK children’s charity, Fegans. The Bridget Jones, Smack the Pony, and Miranda star has received plaudits from many for her campaigning work highlighting the issues children with Down’s syndrome face and is keen to continue that work in supporting children with a variety of mental health and family challenges.

Speaking at the recent Fegans event at the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall, Sally highlighted the acute mental health needs of children and young people: ‘Our children are not coping and our parents need support. The work of Fegans is so desperately needed. Their parenting advice has been a great help to me, and that is hard to find because when you have a child with special educational needs, parenting courses can feel incredibly judgemental.’

Since 1870, Fegans has been dedicated to creating a world where children are free to be all they are created to be. Today they provide counselling for around 400 children every week, bringing freedom to children facing severe bullying, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, anxiety, depression and self-harm. Despite doubling in size in the last six years and seeing more children year-on-year, the charity’s waiting lists never go down, and demand for its services is greater than ever before.

Ian Soars, CEO of Fegans is thrilled that Sally has agreed to become Fegans’ ambassador: ‘It is an honour to have Sally ‘s passion and commitment about family and children join with ours. Sally is articulate and persuasive about the need for our culture to rethink how we prioritise children, particularly those who are vulnerable or with additional needs, issues that are the core of why we exist as an organisation. We fully support Sally as she speaks out on sensitive issues and welcome the amplification she has brought to us as we do the same.’

Phillips concludes: ‘You may have money, or it may be that you have connections or it may be that you have time or skills that you can offer. Please consider what you can do.’

To find out more about the work of Fegans and their work with vulnerable children, visit Fegans. www.fegans.org.uk