Donate Get Support
About us Contact Us Donate

Board of Trustees

YPAS has an experienced and dedicated board of trustees who volunteer their expertise to benefit the charity and the children, young people and families it serves.

YPAS’s trustees play a crucial role in the governance and strategic development of the charity and are key to running YPAS and delivering it services. Trustees are responsible for overseeing the “systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability”.

The trustees are responsible for ensuring that the charity is well governed and complies with government legislation, e.g, Charity Law, Company Law and Employment Law.

Are you interested in becoming a trustee at YPAS?

Suitable applicants should have a commitment to and an interest in improving the lives of young people. Note: this role is not suitable for a short-term work placement or apprenticeship.

To express an interest please contact us.

Our Board of Trustees

Andrew Kerr

(Chair)

Andrew Kerr

My Skills

Andrew has been a member of YPAS's Trustee Board since 2006 with a background in community participation and the strategic development of adult mental health services. Andrew is employed by the CCG (Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group).

Andrew has strong relationships with colleagues across statutory and voluntary sectors and has extensive experience of system and organisational development and MSc in Health Promotion, Research and Policy Change.

Helen Fessey

(Vice-chair)

Helen Fessey

My Skills

Helen has been a trustee and vice chair since 2006. Helen is a kinship carer responsible for 3 grandchildren under 10, her day job is working for the NHS.

Helen first became involved in the work of children and young people through the CAMHS Partnership Board as a parent representative. Helen believes passionately in the prevention of mental ill health of children and young people.

Helen is also the Chair of a Carers Support Group. Helen hopes to continue to develop YPAS, and realises our aims and objectives are for the good of the organisation.

"It's a pleasure working with my fellow trustees, managers and ultimately the fabulous young people."

Ali Herdman

Trustee

Ali Herdman

My Skills

Ali Herdman is an Organisation Development Consultant and Executive Coach specialising in helping organisations and leaders thrive.

Ali has an MBA from LUMS and is an alumni of the Advanced OD/HRM programme Columbia University, New York.

In her 20-year private sector career, she held senior HR and OD positions in Financial services FTSE 100 Companies before setting up her own consultancy.

Ali believes strongly in helping everyone realise their strengths and unlock their potential and is a passionate advocate of YPAS's work in providing support and opportunities for Young People.

She has been a proud trustee since 2012 and brings her business, commercial, OD and HR expertise to the board.

Anna O’Hare

Trustee

Anna O’Hare

My Skills

Anna is originally from N. Ireland and has a degree in law from Queen's University Belfast. Anna has worked as a solicitor in Liverpool since qualifying in 2005.

During that time, Anna worked as a criminal defence solicitor specialising in youth court work and is passionate about helping young people in need.​

Anna now works within the public sector and has been a board member since 2015.

Anna is committed to YPAS and all we stand for and is proud to be a board member.​

Ann Jones

Trustee

Ann Jones

My Skills

Ann has a long and wide range of experience of working in multi-agency health and social care settings with adults, families, children and young people. She is a Registered Nurse and has worked in a range of roles; the majority of her experience being in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Ann is extremely passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and their families in order to best support their development and functioning into adulthood.

Ann’s core skills are underpinned by her wealth of experience of working in the public sector, as a clinician, service manager, joint commissioner and regional development worker CAMHS. Recently she has led on service improvement and redesign, whole systems change, toolkit and product development on a local, regional and national basis. Ann is committed to ensuring that quality improvement is based on knowledge and understanding of service users’ needs and that the user is at the centre of ensuring that changes are made to enhance their experience; as well as the delivery of outcome focused care based on individual need.

Ann’s breadth of knowledge and expertise enables her to work in partnership with individuals, teams and organizations from a range of sectors, ensuring a collaborative approach to change. Educated to MSc level and with significant knowledge of strategic and change management, she brings a strong analytical focus to her work in service improvement and professional development.

Amazing, thank you for the information and support. It's a scary world being a parent to a child with ASD but now I feel there is light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Such a lovely, friendly team. Thank you.

Parent/Carer

I worked with Emily. I enjoyed talking about what's going on in my life whilst it is being fun, it's never 'there's something wrong', it's always 'how do we help you' which I like. Emily is amazing, she's helped me so much and she's just a lovely person!!!

Young Person Aged 15

YPAS was the first organisation that took me in and also the quickest, Sonia helped me get through a very difficult stage in my life and has bettered me as a person. I feel better equipped to deal with situations in life and my mental health has improved overall because of it.

Young Person Aged 20

My son has loved coming to sessions each week with Lisa. He has calmed down a lot. This has been a fantastic service with people who genuinely care. Thank you, Lisa!

Parent/Carer

I felt progression and I found my strength and resilience through the sessions. I am proud of myself for staying strong and showing my commitment through the past months of my sessions. I also gained a handful of coping strategies and I maintained my balance by controlling my worries.

Young Person Aged 18