Felicity is the daughter of Dr Chad Varah, Samaritans Founder.
Felicity is the eldest of five children and the only daughter born to Dr Chad Varah CH, CBE (Founder of Samaritans) and Susan Varah, International President of the Mothers Union. Felicity trained as a medical social worker and began a long a varied career in the area of social and therapeutic work.
After retiring as a senior executive from Hampshire County Council Social Services Department, Felicity has committed much of her efforts to non-executive work in the charitable sector.
Felicity works tirelessly to support Samaritans’ mission to reduce deaths by suicide since 2007 in her role as an Ambassador and Honorary President. One of her milestone contributions to Samaritans was leading the ‘Chad Varah appeal’ between 2009-2011. This appeal raised £1,000,000 and funded the development and implementation of our telephone system used today by our listening volunteers.
Felicity was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019 for her outstanding contribution to the charitable sector in the UK.