Our team

Helen Savage

Helen has been involved with Southampton Family Trust for many years, initially as a volunteer and trustee, before becoming CEO in 2015.

Helen began her career as a family lawyer before moving into family mediation in 2010. She has worked extensively with separating parents and developed the Changing Lives programme, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, to help parents reduce the impact of separation on their children.

At SFT, Helen oversees the charity’s parenting and relationship support services, including its work with Royal Navy and Royal Marines families across the UK. Much of her work now focuses on supporting parents of children with ADHD and/or autism, as well as helping families experiencing challenging behaviour and relationship difficulties.

Alongside her role at SFT, Helen continues to work as a family mediator and provides training for family mediators and other professionals.

Helen is married and has two grown-up sons, a dog and a cat. She enjoys spending time with family and friends and drinking coffee.

John Deagle

John has worked with couples for many years – providing pre-marriage preparation, relationship enrichment and supporting couples experiencing difficulties.

He is the former CEO of Southampton Family Trust. Previously John developed workforce planning training initiatives, and supported the implementation of best practice into the NHS. John also worked for many years as a British Gas manager with experience in Marketing Research and Planning, HR Planning and Systems.

Kate Gardener

Kate has been working with SFT since 2014. She is married with two young children and together the family is involved in respite foster care for babies. Kate works as a community nurse in Southampton. She is an accredited trainer in Emotional First Aid and has also delivered courses on Helping Your Child Do Well and Feelings Affect Behaviour. Kate is a facilitator for Prepare Enrich.

In her spare time, Kate enjoys working on the allotment and singing with the Rock Choir.

Kari Roberts

Experienced, qualified parenting specialist, trainer of facilitators, mentor and coach with over eleven years of experience. Delivering training to professionals and parents, using both evidenced based practise and a wealth of practical experience. Kari is passionate about supporting families to develop a positive relationship and have fun together.

Anna and David Wright

Anna and David Wright own and run a group of children’s nurseries in the city. They both have many years’ experience in parenting and child development training and support. Their eldest 2 (twin) children were very premature and their youngest is adopted. They also understand loss, sadly, having had personal experience. David is an advocate for fathers and for men working with young children. In 2015, they started their own charity Families First Southampton which works to support dads in the city.

Paul Finn - Chair

Paul has been an ordained church minister for 42 years. He has a Masters Degree in Theology and is also an accredited counsellor specialising in marriage working alongside his wife Janice. Paul has been married to Janice for 46 years; they have four children and 11 grandchildren. Paul and Janice are passionate about family and believe that wholesome families are the cornerstone of healthy communities.  He was involved in co-founding SFT over 15 years ago.

Janice Finn

Janice Finn has been a church minister’s wife and church leader for the past 42 years. She is an accredited counsellor who specialises in the area of marriage relationships and has a Diploma in Theology. She has a heart and a passion to see broken relationships healed and restored. Janice and Paul travel extensively in the UK holding Marriage Enrichment seminars and teaching on the Marriage Course. She was involved in co-founding SFT over 15 years ago.