“I knew that I wanted to work for a non-profit organisation throughout university. As I studied sociology, I learned about how important the work not-for-profit organisations do and I knew that I wanted to contribute to that. I started at BCHA in August of 2026.
“My role at BCHA is a Business Support Officer and is with the strategy and governance part of BCHA. My days and weeks look quite different, depending on the needs of the business – it could be reviewing policies or preparing for regulator inspections. I ensure BCHA stays up to date with the regulator, who gives guidance on how organisations should be governing.
“I work in quite a small team - my manager, Phil Baker, is the Head of Governance and Company Secretary and I work with Carl Hall, BCHA’s Health and Safety Lead, who is also managed by Phil. I also work closely with the Business Support Team members across the organisation. The wider Business Support Team aims to have quarterly meetings to share projects and processes we are working on."
We're a smaller Housing Association, but BCHA is unique in the diversity of teams – from Community Mental Health to Family Support – and we've all got the same goal: to help in the fight against homelessness.
“A large amount of my work is around the Board, its members and curating the quarterly Board reports. The reports take about a month to put together as they’re made up of five separate reports but are all so important. The report keeps our Board members knowing what’s going well and what could use some focus within the organisation.
“If we get new board members, I help on-board them and make sure they're all set up with what they need to do, alongside Debbie Matthews, Executive Assistant to BCHA’s CEO. I help with administration for some Board Committees, putting together the agendas and making sure the papers to review are in ahead of time. I helped organise the recent BChangemakers event and was on the Committee for that too.
“The Board is so close to BCHA’s mission – I've never worked somewhere where the Board is really entwined with the organisation’s goals and BCHA’s Board members are so proud of the work BCHA does. Being involved in conversations when there are Board away days or committee meetings and seeing the thoughts put into decisions made is so valuable to me.”
“At the last Board away day, the Customer Steering Group (CSG) attended. The CSG is a panel made up of customers across BCHA’s region and our services to provide unique viewpoints on BCHA. It’s great to hear the customer opinions on things, whether that is about things that are going well or things that could be improved and is a full circle experience – seeing how our customers’ perspectives and opinions can influence decisions made at BCHA.
“Inclusivity is incredibly important to me and BCHA demonstrates this through the CSG, the Board and Committee meetings - no matter your role or job title, all our opinions are valued equally.
“Working for BCHA to me is about always learning, improving and never being stagnant in what we're doing. I love learning, and being able to learn about BCHA and the housing sector is something I’m passionate about."
Pictured: Board Chair Chris Nicholson attended BChangemakers alongside Board Members Ceri Connor, Graham Oliver and Hannah Lee
I've never worked somewhere where the Board is really entwined with the organisation’s goals and BCHA’s Board members are so proud of the work BCHA does.
“Being from Bournemouth, I've known about BCHA for most of my life, and it is quite full circle as there was fundraisers for BCHA when I was at school. One of my favourite parts of working at BCHA is knowing that you're a part of something that's doing good things for the community that are recognised.
“We're a smaller Housing Association, but BCHA is unique in the diversity of teams – from Community Mental Health to Family Support – and we've all got the same goal: to help in the fight against homelessness. Because of this shared passion, people are so willing to share their knowledge about what they do and if you ever need a need a question answered, people are happy to give you their time.”
Feeling inspired and want to take a look at our current vacancies? Click the button below to visit our recruitment page and see how you can work for us here at BCHA.
Our Partners
