Carole Easton

Carole Easton OBE is chief executive of Young Women's Trust (previously Platform 51), a charity supporting and representing disadvantaged young women. She has extensive experience in the voluntary sector having been Chief Executive of Cruse Bereavement Care, ChildLine and CLIC Sargent. She has worked as a trainer and consultant in the UK and overseas, developing helplines and children’s services. She is Chair of Young Minds, the UK’s leading charity committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. She is also Trustee at Depaul UK - the youth homelessness charity.

Carole Easton began her career as a child and family psychotherapist in the NHS. Since then, has worked extensively in the voluntary sector.

Before joining Young Women's Trust, she worked permanently in the public and voluntary sector and, in 2009, undertook a twelve-month assignment at disability advocacy charity SpeakingUp, where she oversaw the merger of the services with Advocacy Partners, and prior to that she was Chief Executive at CLIC Sargent, ChildLine and Cruse Bereavement Care.

Clic Sargent was officially formed in April 2005 when Clic and Sargent Cancer Care for Children merged. Easton took over soon afterwards tasked with integrating the two charities and reducung their overheads.

As Chief Executive of ChildLine, she persuaded NSPCC to absorb ChildLine into the larger charity in 2005.

Easton, who was appointed Executive Director of Cruse Bereavement Care in March 1998 following a realignment and expansion.

Easton is chair of YoungMinds (since 2012) and previously a trustee of Missing People (since 2008) and Child Welfare Scheme (CWS) (since 2008) which funds and builds expertise for local health and education services for vulnerable children in Nepal.

Easton was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to young people.