Who we are

Donna Jennings with a family in refugee camp, Lebanon

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Our vision

Every child and family healed from trauma and full of hope for their future.

Our mission

For children and families affected by trauma FLOC brings healing through creative therapies that leads to Hope and wellness

We use creative therapeutic approaches including dramatherapy art music and play therapy to aid healing to children and their families who have suffered with trauma, loss and difficulties with their mental health and well-being.

We believe every child should be free to play, and live a happy childhood to develop into a normal healthy adult.

The journey to Hope

Our story - Our story begins with a story from loss to Hope. Donna and Thomas Jennings founded For The Love of a Child in 2010 following the tragic loss of their little boy Samuel who died at a fruit farm at just aged 5 from heart failure . His death was the catalyst to set up the charity that would bring help and healing and hope to children all around the world.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it cannot bear fruit”

FLOC is stablished on the foundation of Donna and Thomas’s Christian faith. They believe that Sam's life and death was a seed planted out of their pain to bring Hope and joy and healing to children and families in need.

Our History

Floc was first established in 2010, its first project was establishing its first Sam's House named after little Samuel Jennings in his memory. A partnership with mountain unity an ngo was established in Kabul to provide a safe play centre for children with trauma and disabilities. In 2017 in response to the syrian conflict a further Sam’s House child friendly space we set up for children aged 3-5 years in Lebanon with new partners MERATH for children who were traumatised due to the war/conflict. The Sam’s House programme was developed to provide a psycho-social programme that could be delivered in a safe environment to help them overcome trauma through play and creative therapies.

In 2020 Donna, the founder, wrote a children’s book that was developed into a new emotional health and well-being programme entitled the listening stone and this programme was delivered in 2019 to over 6 tribal villages in India to children and has now been delivered in many schools in Scotland to primary school children and to the special needs school Kingspark in Dundee, Scotland.

In 2021-2022 The LSP programme was also delivered by a dramatherapist in Derby to Afghan refugee children that had been granted asylum after fleeing Afghanistan when the Taliban re-took control. In 2022-2023, the LSP was delivered to Foster/Care and LAC children through social services partnerships and our very latest project is now establishing a new Sam’s House in Iraq, with new partners whole heart international. In 2019 Donna was awarded the daily Mirror Unsung hero award for her work with the Syrian refugees and FLOC’s work gained government recognition .Sams House was mentioned in Parliament for improving the lives of children after conflict.

With over ten years experience For The Love of a Child has become a well established and trusted charity and leader in the field of psycho-social programmes for young children impacted by trauma loss and bereavement.

Our team - trustees

Joy Jennings

Joy jennings is a very creative and energetic young women in her second year studying for a degree in fine art and philosophy. She has worked in a community cafe for those with disabilities and currently is a supervisor at a large hotel. Running and organising events and teams. Joy has a passion and desire to be an art therapist and is keen on marketing and design

She can bring a younger viewpoint on projects fundraising, and bring creative ideas to future plans of the charity and help the charity in its online presence and media output.

Gillian Simpson

Gillian has experience in supporting Older People, Adults with Learning Disabilities, Mental Health needs prior to becoming a qualified Social Worker in 1998 and works in Children's Services. She has experience in Children's Services Social Work in both specialist Disability Social Work and also mainstream Social Work covering, assessment, child protection, adoption and court work, and emergency response. She has managed Social Work Teams since 2009 before going into more Strategic Leadership in 2018. Gill has a MSc in Child Protection, Management and Professional Studies alongside research in Outcomes for Children experiencing poverty. Gill has led women's faith groups in the community for 25 years and is devoted to building resilience in parents and children. Gill trains professionals multidisciplinary in Child Protection. Gill is experienced and trained in the effects of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) and Trauma, and is committed to making a difference to Children's lives in the UK and across the world.

Gordon Gillies

My history is life in the military and in construction. I have spent eleven years with HM Royal Marines in multiple theatres, in defense of the nation and personnel. Laterally the main tasking was around border control negotiations and anti terrorism. After leaving the military, I moved into the construction industry, running my own business, concentrating mainly on joinery work. I have now retired from construction. I am a father and a grandfather and my heart is drawn to the fatherless. I bring a depth of life experience with a heart of compassion for the lost and disenfranchised.

Linda Donachie

I have been a nurse since 1988 and I am still nursing. I started off as an intensive care nurse then worked as a clinical nurse manager. I then continued my education and became an Advanced nurse Practitioner. I also worked with Macmillan as a Cancer Palliative and End of life Facilitator. This involved educating and teaching in both hospitals and universities. I taught communication skills, delivering sad, bad and difficult information and how to care for a dying person and their families. My passion is caring for people and I count it a privilege to be a part of peoples journey’s showing the love of Christ. I have 2 grown up children.

Margaret Gillies - Treasurer

Margaret has over 30 years’ experience working in the financial services industry as a financial adviser looking after a varied client portfolio. She has worked as part of a team and run her own business within this industry. She has a BA (Financial Services) and a Diploma in Business Studies. She has completed courses which involve inter-personal and communication skills and neuro linguistic programming a well as courses to train individuals with a goal to set up and run their own investment clubs.

Margaret has led faith groups in the community for almost 30 years and has a desire to see people fulfill their aims and objectives in life by developing the life skills they already have and opening their vision to consider new possibilities.