March is Women’s History Month and on 8 March we celebrate International Women’s Day – Catalyst is a growing charity, with a wide and diverse workforce. We are committed to the principle of equal opportunity of employment. We value our people, and are taking the opportunity this March to shout about just some of the many amazing Women working at Catalyst.
Meet Sue – CEO For Catalyst Support
Sue’s early career was in manufacturing, including working in admin and HR. A conversation with a colleague led her to studying a counselling qualification and then joining Catalyst as a volunteer counsellor in 1999. After volunteering for a couple of years, she took on a paid role as counselling service supervisor and in 2003 she became a manager of the drop-in in Staines.
From 2007 to 2010 Sue worked as an operations manager and then from 2010-2012 as a compliance manager. She progressed to a role as deputy CEO from 2012-2017, overseeing the drug and alcohol services within Catalyst, before becoming acting CEO for 9 months and being offered her current role as CEO following interviews in January 2018. At this point Catalyst had 54 staff and has since been through a period of significant growth, more than doubling the number of employees and growing the number of services to around 20.
The best part of Sue’s job as CEO of Catalyst, in her opinion, is collaborating with stakeholders to ensure that the voluntary sector is seen as equal to statutory services while working with motivated work colleagues who support the health and wellbeing of not only the clients of our services but also of themselves and their fellow employees.
Meet Rosina – Service Manager for Lived Experience & Co-production
Rosina is our service manager for lived experience and co-production, a new role that she was promoted to late in 2022.
With experience of mental ill health within her family, Rosina had always known that mental health doesn’t discriminate and can affect all walks of life, so had always had an interest in working in a mental health role. Her previous work at Catalyst was as an In-Reach Worker in psychiatric wards, supporting people in the run up to and after discharge. She loved the variety and autonomy of the role.
Prior to joining Catalyst, she worked in the probations service for 20 years, initially in an admin role before working as a probation officer in court, prison and in the community.
In her current role at Catalyst, Rosina supervises our existing Lived Experience Practitioners who co-facilitate SUN (Service User Network) groups. She’s also recruiting a team of 9 new Practitioners employed by Catalyst, who work as part of a team giving hope and sharing their knowledge and experience in GP surgeries and out in the community.
For Rosina, the best part of her role is the opportunity it gives her to be flexible and creative, helping develop and expand a service at an exciting time for Catalyst.
Find out more about International Women’s Day HERE.