John O'Sullivan

Chair of Advisory Council

John O’Sullivan is the Chief Executive of St Johns Housing Trust, a registered charity providing accommodation, support and resettlement services to homeless people in Lowestoft, Suffolk. The Trust started as a night centre 30 years ago providing shelter to the street homeless but now its services extend to young people, young single mothers and homeless families. Prior to his appointment to the Trust in 1999 John had a long association with the organisation through his work with the Probation Service since 1986. He is a representative of the voluntary sector on Suffolk’s Supporting People Elected Provider Panel and also has a seat on SP’s Supported Housing Strategy Group. Recently John was invited to be one of the provider representatives on ODPM’s Expert Reference Group set up to advise on the consultation process and outcomes on the future of the National SP Programme. During his career John practised as a Family Mediator for nine years assisting separating or divorced parents to reach agreement about residence and contact arrangements for their children. John is currently one of the Eastern Regions representatives on Homeless Link’s National Advisory Council and has been Chair of the Council since February 2005.

Paul Bridges

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Paul Bridges has been a youth worker since 1988 and has worked in the field of youth homelessness since 1995.

Initially for The London Connection then St Basils and now for Focus Futures where he has lead responsibility for Youth Services.

Focus Futures provides over 320 young people with supported accommodation across six boroughs along with other support services. He has been a PhD student and lecturer and Keele University and a visiting lecturer at Wolverhampton University.

Peter Chapman

I was born in East London in 1941 and worked on market stalls and collecting scrap and rags. I went deep sea fishing until 1977. During this time I obtained my cooks ticket and I've worked in many a hotel, restaurant and nursing home. While in Lowerstaff Night Shelter I was given the chance to work in the homelessness field and found it was a job I believed in and enjoyed. I've worked in many dry houses, night shelters and treatment centers, some where I had been a user. I was working in Plymouth Night Shelter when the new S.H.I.P. Hostel opened in 1990; there was no need for the shelter. I was asked to put together a day centre and opened Shekinah mission at Christmas 1992. I gave up my job as night manager of a hostel and worked full time at the mission. The mission has grown; we now have 27 workers in four different projects: the Day Centre, Night Shelter, Steady Work Project and Basic Skills Project.

I've been a member of Homeless Link/Alliance since its early days and am a great believer in partnership working. I am also a member of Plymouth Rough Sleepers Forum. I have helped set up dry houses which I believe in strongly.

Tony Chasteauneuf

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Tony graduated in History from Durham University in 1991. After a few years travelling (including 18 months living in Italy) and various temporary jobs, Tony joined Worthing Churches Homeless Projects (WCHP) as a volunteer in the summer of 1995. From the November of 1995 until the summer of 1999, Tony worked as Resettlement Assistant and then Resettlement Officer delivering front line support to WCHP’s service users and developing interagency initiatives. Since becoming General Manager of WCHP in 1999, Tony has played his part in helping WCHP expand its services from a 14 bed short stay direct access hostel to now also include a 13 bed medium stay supported accommodation project, a community team including mental health and substance use specialisms, a semi-structured day centre and a 12 bed medium stay harm reduction supported substance use accommodation project. In that time WCHP has achieved Investors In People recognition whilst also expanding its volunteer workforce to around 200 individuals.

WCHP has been able to build upon its strong community based support from the local Christian community to attract increasingly active support from the wider community – including local statutory agencies. WCHP’s commitment to professional, holistic and innovative services that balance responses to immediate need with interventions that promote long term independence has earned the organisation an excellent reputation within the community it serves.

Amanda Croome

I have been working in the homeless field since 1989. I started as a volunteer doing soup runs and running a winter night shelter. I then worked co-ordinating and training volunteers in an outreach and resettlement project and running their Open Christmas. In 1994 I was involved in setting up the Booth Centre, an activity based day centre, which I have managed ever since. At the Booth Centre we have developed a Supported Volunteering Programme, which enables people who use the centre to provide half the staffing. Our wet garden was designed and is looked after by people who use the Centre and provides an innovative way to work with street drinkers. The Centre is based on an activities programme, which includes education, training, creative arts, health activities and supported employment and each part of it is accredited to enable people to work for nationally recognised qualifications. We have just set up Phoenix Landscapes, a social enterprise providing work experience and training in gardening. I am also involved in strategic work in Manchester, with the Manchester Multi Agency Homeless Forum, the Rebuilding Lives group, which promotes meaningful occupation throughout the City and the Rough Sleepers Co-ordinating group. I was involved in supporting service users to establish Manchester’s Service User Network.

Majella Dean

Biography and photo to be added shortly.

Lesley Dewhurst

I have been working in the homeless/socially excluded sector for 18 years and am currently Director of Oxford Night Shelter. My first job was in direct access accommodation, before moving to the Elmore Team - an Oxford charity which provides community support to people with complex, multiple needs. After several years as a support worker with the Elmore Team, I became manager in 1995. Though loath to leave this enjoyable organisation, I was pleased to take on the challenge of Oxford Night Shelter in 2003. ONS has undergone profound changes in the last few years, including a brand new building for its direct access services and increasing its stock of move-on accommodation through the Julian Housing project. During my time in this sector I have been involved with specific projects concerning older homeless people, multiple needs and move-on. I was also instrumental in setting up a low-cost counselling service for women in Oxford, and am Trustee of a local floating support team. I started my working life as a stage manager - which I feel has many, many similarities with my current job! The show must go on, and all that.

Atara Fridler

Biography and photo to be added shortly.

Sue Frost

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I joined the Youth Service in Hertfordshire as a volunteer in the late 1970s and went on to gain the necessary qualification in informal education to move from volunteer to part-time member of staff to full-time member of staff, and eventually team leader. I remained with the Youth Service for 22 years. In 1998 I became the co-ordinator of a 2 ½ year European funded project working with unemployed young people in four areas of the south east enabling them to undertake training in community leadership and to set up volunteer bureaux run by young people for young people. As a European funded project we had partners in Finland and Holland which meant many trips to these countries for all of us involved, including the young people which was an amazing learning experience.

In 2000 I joined Herts Young Homeless group as Chief Executive of a charity working with young people of 16-25 years who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. We have worked diligently over the subsequent years to react to government legislation, in particular the Homelessness Act of 2002 and the Supporting People initiative. Alongside all the work of the organisation, we established a floating support scheme and crashpad mediation scheme for 16/17 year olds. Apart from being a member of the National Advisory Council for Homeless Link, I am currently joint-Chair of Hertfordshire Council for Voluntary Youth Services; a Trustee of South West Herts Youth Advisory & Counselling Service; on the Executive Committees of Herts. Millenium Volunteers and Welwyn Hatfield Guaranteed Accommodation Project; and have recently been asked to join the Herts. Childrens Trust Partnership Board.

Raelton Gibbs

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Major Raelton Gibbs is the Homelessness Services Officer for The Salvation Army with a responsibility for all its homelessness work within the United Kingdom and Eire. The Salvation Army provides a wide range of services to rough sleepers and other vulnerable homeless people. Through its hostels it offers in excess of 3100 beds each night.

Raelton originally trained as a nurse, but was commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer in 1984. All his officership has been within the Social Services of the organisation, for many years working in residential centres for the homeless and addiction units including Sheffield, London, Hull, Leeds and Darlington. Prior to his current appointment Raelton was responsible for the Salvation Army’s social work in the South East of England.

Raelton is married to Lynn (also a Salvation Army Officer) who for many years shared his work, and has two children and one grandchild.

Kevin Howe

Biography and photo to be added shortly.

Jeremy Jones

Jeremy spent the first 20 years of his working life in the music business – working all over the world in records, publishing, marketing and sponsorship. In the 1990’s he was responsible for staging multi-artist shows for television including the only time that Bob Marley’s entire family and original band were re-united on stage. In 1991 Jeremy volunteered for CRISIS at Christmas and was pole-vaulted into middle-management on his second day in a case of mistaken identity, thus starting a process which in 1998 was to cause him to give up the high life and devote the rest of his life to rough sleepers.

Having moved to York, Jeremy met a local vicar who had some money to set up a shelter but no-one to run it. Together they started the first Arc Light emergency overnight shelter in 1999. Arc Light has now grown to have a 24-hour 42-bed hostel, a 7-bed house for problematic drinkers (in a leafy suburb of York) and a city centre keyworking and training office, as well as to be the driving force behind PACY, York’s very successful training into work scheme. Arc Light has recently identified a site on which to build a new £3.3m facility under the DCLG’s Hostel Capital Improvement Programme.

Amarjit Kaur

Biography and photo to be added shortly.

Mair Richards

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Jeremy Swain

Biography and photo to be added shortly.

Carole Turner

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Conrad Watkins

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