Sean Soulsby took the helm at The Children’s Foundation in 2019, and leads the team in offering health and wellbeing services to children and families in the North East. The charity develops early intervention and prevention strategies focused on the key child health challenges of now, namely early years, physical and mental health.
What was your first job (and what did it pay)? My first job was a paper-round at Corbridge Paper Shop. I got paid £7 a week and £10 extra with chocolate bar of my choosing if I went in at 5.30am on a weekend to add the inserts to the papers! My degree is in Environmental Science and Agricultural Ecology which led into landscape gardening for a while before ending up with a job at Divet Hill Quarry, near Great Bavington, as a plant technician, but I was running two youth sessions at the same time – I was questioning what it really was that I wanted to do for the rest of my life and I ended up leaving the quarry to become a full-time youth worker and never looked back. I still sit as a trustee on the board of Corbridge Youth Service where I started my career in youth work.
What is the best advice or support you’ve been given in business? Two pieces of advice have really stuck with me. Firstly, to have confidence in yourself and trust your gut; it’s ok to get it wrong as long as you recognise the problem and learn from it. Secondly, my fundraising manager is always encouraging me to ask for forgiveness not permission, which I’m trying to take on board!
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What are the main changes that you’ve seen in your business / sector, and what are the challenges your facing? There has been a dramatic rise in demand for help and support from families in the North East with the basics like food, warmth and things to do. Being a non-profit, funding is one of the big challenges, in particular core or unrestricted funding which is vital to the work that we do. There has been a rise in restricted funding that is being received which can be limiting to what we can deliver; charities know how best to support our service users, and we should be trusted to get on with it and more funders need to recognise and support this, especially in the current climate. Too many applications focus on charities jumping through hoops in order to ‘tick the boxes’, often at the needs of the funder which is a crazy notion when in reality we are focused on the needs of the individual beneficiaries. That is what should matter the most.
How has the pandemic changed the way you work? The pandemic has made us more focused on specific child health needs like mental and physical health and the importance of early years. Post-pandemic there has been a sharp increase in need for interventions that promote and support a best start in life. Our Baby Box project aims to make changes not just locally but nationally in our belief that every child deserves a best start in life.
Who is your role model in business? I tend to admire the unsung heroes the most – those people who are going above and beyond in service of their communities with usually very little recognition. Keda Norman at Hexham Youth Initiative is a particular inspiration to me, the tenacity she has to make real change in the region is second to none, I’ve always admired her ability to go above and beyond to make things happen.
What would your dream job be? Can I say my current role, but for free after winning the lottery?
What advice would you give to someone starting out a career in your sector? The best advice I can give anyone looking to work with young people or in a non-profit environment is to show compassion and be patient. Even if you only make a difference to one person, you have changed the world for them and that’s worth it.
What makes the North East a good place to do business? There is a real sense of community here that makes our region a really unique place to live and do business. I think it is a combination of the people, the passion and the pride combined with a real ‘in it together’ attitude that has the ability to achieve things that are really remarkable. The people in the North East are incredibly generous – both with time and money, but also with expertise and connections. As a region we have a long history of working together to get things done and it really shows in the caliber of organisations that call the region home.
How important do you think it is for business to play a role in society? Businesses play a key role in society – they are completely intertwined. It isn’t just a fluffy, nice thing to do; if businesses don’t invest in the wider communities and issues that surround them, especially children and young people, then that has a direct impact on their workforce or customer base of the future. It the people who make up businesses and it is essential that leaders today understand the crucial role that they play in shaping what our regional society looks like tomorrow.
Outside of work, what are you really good at? Being a good dad and husband takes up a lot of my time outside of work, which I love. Aside from spending time with my family – I’m a pretty dab hand at cutting the grass and putting the bins out - I think I’m a good advocate for children and young people in the region, I’m currently chair of the board for Corbridge Youth Initiative and I really enjoy using my experience to support the next generation to achieve great things.
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