Parents Reflecting Forwards - 29th Annual General Meeting

It was great to welcome all the members of Stepping Stones for Families, Trustees and invited guests who joined us on 16th November for our 29th Annual General Meeting.

Damien McGarrigle, Chairperson of our Board of Trustees welcomed everyone and opened the meeting. Whilst overseeing the business of the meeting, Damien also took the time to illustrate the breadth of Stepping Stones for Families’ portfolio of services, and Isobel Lawson our CEO joined him to highlight the positive impact our work has in supporting families to sustain positive change in their lives throughout the year.

Parents and the launch of the Parent’s Forum were the focus of the day; and members who have had experience of SSfF services were invited to speak about their journeys with us.

All the stories that were shared were full of incredible strength, courage and endurance; and each speaker described the positive impact Stepping Stones has had on their lives, and the lives of their children.  Each life experience was extraordinary and every story was unique, immensely powerful and incredibly inspiring.

The day was engaging and participative; before lunch everyone engaged in intense discussion as the Parent’s Forum initiative was launched.  Parents outlined what their forum will be, how it will be shaped and what they expect their forum to achieve as we all move towards 2018.

We asked Stepping Stones for Families’ CEO, Isobel Lawson for her reflections of the day;

“Our 29th AGM and the launch of the Parents’ Forum was an inspirational event. What made it so? The valuable contribution of every parent who came along, in particular the parents who, despite being nervous, made their way to the front to share their stories”

Isobel continues “ What surprised me was that not only did we have the parents who had agreed to speak at the AGM but we had other parents standing up asking to join the ‘panel of speakers' at the front!”

“So many parents were desperate to speak about the positive difference Stepping Stones for Families has made to their own and their child/ren’s lives over the past two years. I believe this is a testament to how we work with people.”

“Our approach and our unique partnerships with parents, young people and children produce the outcomes for families, and it is this that motivated the parents to share their experience with the AGM audience.”

Isobel Lawson, CEO of Stepping Stones for Families

“The aspirations shared by all the parents during the round table discussions that took place during our AGM, has provided us with a great foundation for the development of our parents’ forum work in 2018.”

“This day reminded me why I do this job – we really do make a difference to the lives of children, young people and families.”