Anna Wardley is the Founder and CEO of the Luna Foundation, a not-for-profit on a mission to improve the support for children and young people after a parent or primary caregiver dies by suicide. Motivated by the loss of her own dad to suicide when she was nine, Anna has raised significant funds and awareness for suicide-related charities as an endurance swimmer and shares her story around the world as a motivational speaker.
In 2019 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to carry out international research on supporting children left behind after parental suicide. She published her report entitled Time to Count in December 2021 and incorporated Luna as a Community Interest Company in March 2022 to take forward her key recommendations.
The Shackleton Leadership Award is helping Anna to create firm foundations for this new social enterprise, which will deliver suicide bereavement training for people working with children and young people across the UK. In addition to the provision of evidence-informed training, Luna will provide a hub for research, resources and campaigning around the impact of suicide on young people. Through Luna, Anna is dedicated to breaking the chain of poor mental health and increased suicide risk for those who lose a parent to suicide in childhood.