Meet our Chair of Trustees, Meg Kaufman
Meg Kaufman is the Chair of our Board of Trustees. I met Meg in Burnt cafe on Askew Road (great coffee) to ask her about her involvement with WLAC and her first year as Chair.
Meg began by telling me how lively the Brook Green WLAC Quiz had been the previous evening - many familiar faces from previous years and also lots of newcomers. Meg is clearly passionate about recognising and growing our support network. She explained that in addition to raising valuable funds, our supporters give their time and attention to understanding our work and give voice to the issues facing our client families. Our supporters raise awareness about the difficulties children face and the importance of investing in their mental health. Supporters advocate for the charity and draw in new support.
Meg says that she found out about WLAC from another supporter. A colleague was running the marathon for us and asked for sponsorship through an internal newsletter.
As an economist and with her experience of city development, Meg was acutely aware of the stark inequalities within London and her attention was immediately drawn to our work in West London, her local neighbourhood. Meg says she knew immediately that she wanted to support a charity investing in children and families who might otherwise not be able to access the help they need.
Meg is also driven by her own lived experience. She describes herself as having been a troubled teenager and she told me that her personal experience of the benefits of therapy galvanises her support for WLAC. Meg said that therapy had helped her see a more hopeful future and had lifted her out of a very difficult place. She described it as life-defining. She wants to help offer this valuable service to those in our community who are most in need and who are hardest to reach.
Meg has been an energetic fundraiser and advocate for WLAC for over a decade. She began by organising local events in Ravenscourt Park, joined the Fundraising Committee, became Chair of the Fundraising Committee, became a Trustee, then Deputy Chair and in November 2022 was appointed Chair of our Board of Trustees.
Meg has helped the Board to recruit new skills, talent, and perspectives, including lived experience and greater diversity. The Board is ultimately responsible for the charity’s financial performance, service delivery and sustainability. Meg paid tribute to her fellow trustees and also to the executive team, citing in particular their professionalism, commitment and compassion. The Board has recently overseen the expansion of the team and service provision as well as reviewing the reserves policy and dealing with other ‘nuts and bolts’ issues such as working through all the charity’s policies to review, refresh and ensure they are fit for purpose.
Over the years, Meg has gained deep insights into how the charity operates. She emphasised the high quality of service that WLAC provides, underpinned by the credentials and experience of the team of professional therapists and the charity’s core values. WLAC always focuses on the child (or children) within a family. Its approach is always solution-focused. The therapists liaise with social workers and other agencies and WLAC often works individually with significant adults in a child’s life, for example giving a parent 1:1 therapy to help them address the issues they are facing and support them to parent more positively. But the ultimate focus is always on the child and how best to support them. WLAC’s work with client families is often intensive and can be long running. Children and families can access a range of different services and they receive help for as long as they need. Some families return when new challenges arise.
Meg is very clear about the long term benefits for the children that WLAC helps, their families, friends, classmates and wider society. By supporting the mental health of children and teenagers at key moments, we can help them respond more positively to the challenges they face, enable them to look forward with hope and allow them to realise their full potential.
She concluded our chat by saying ‘we are very lucky to have WLAC working in our neighbourhood’.
We are also lucky to have Meg.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A WLAC VOLUNTEER?
West London Action for Children volunteers are a valuable part of our team and are essential for helping us provide the services we do within Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea.