Allison Furlong, Alfie’s Squad

Allison is the founder and CEO of Alfie’s Squad, a charity she established alongside her son after they tragically lost his dad to suicide. When support for young people like Alfie was nowhere to be found, he began fundraising to make sure no other child would feel as alone as he did. Inspired by his courage, Allison is dedicated to turning his vision into something special, where families facing the same kind of grief, have access to vital support.

As the only group of its kind in the UK, Alfie’s Squad provides peer support for children and their families who have lost a loved one to suicide. Through fun and engaging activities, young members get the chance to build friendships and confidence with others who know what they’re going through. Allison is working to enhance the offer from Alfie's Squad, to help reach even more families across the wider North West and beyond.

In 2023, Allison was named Merseyside Woman of the Year for ‘Woman of Courage’, and under her direction, the charity was recently honoured to receive the ‘Mental Health Changemakers’ title at the Liverpool Community Impact Awards.

Neil Boardman, Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Collaborative

Neil has worked for the Champs Support Team, part of the Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Collaborative, as Programme Manager leading on Suicide Prevention and Mental Wellbeing for nearly five years. The role is primarily to facilitate and co-ordinate the delivery of the Cheshire and Merseyside Suicide Prevention strategy that aims to prevent as many suicides as possible and reduce the number of people impacted by suicides in the subregion.

Prior to his current role, Neil worked for Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Public Health team as an Advanced Public Health Practitioner with a varied work portfolio which included being the Suicide Prevention lead; chairing the local place multi-agency suicide prevention group and leading on the delivery of the local place suicide prevention action plan.

Dr Claire Iveson

Dr Claire Iveson is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and the Clinical and Strategic Lead for Zero Suicide at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and Director of the Zero Suicide Alliance.

Claire has over 20 years clinical practice experience working across a range of settings. She is passionate about suicide awareness and prevention championing evidence-based initiatives and innovative practice.

Claire is regularly invited to participate in national and international events providing expertise and sharing learning and research around safety planning, and suicide awareness and prevention.