I am enjoying being a non-executive in various organisations including Second Step and Gloucestershire Health and Care (GHC) NHS Foundation Trust. Since 2014 I have been the Chair of Second Step, based in Bristol, a charity which puts mental health first and provides a range of support services for people with sometimes complex needs, including homelessness. I am also the Vice-Chair of GHC, which provides community-based physical and mental health services, including healthcare for those who are homeless.

The focus of my Fellowship was to consider the role of community housing providers in delivering affordable housing and tackling homelessness. The need to invest in both housing and support services was apparent, together with the need for the health and housing sectors to be well integrated.

In addition to providing services, Second Step works to bring about system change through more collaboration and more service user engagement in order to tackle the really complex issues faced by too many individuals. Our work on Housing First (providing people with a home first, and then support) has been shown to deliver effective and sustainable outcomes for individuals.