Tasmin joined Catching Lives in December to lead the charity and brings a wealth of experience in the homelessness sector, having started out as a day centre volunteer before becoming a hostel support worker and then managing accommodation services for people sleeping rough and experiencing multiple disadvantage.
Tasmin joined Homeless Link in 2011 to lead their Day Centres Project and has visited more than 100 day services around the country in her career. As Head of Innovation & Good Practice and Assistant Director, Tasmin led Homeless Link’s national good practice projects.
My role at Catching Lives is as an outreach worker, supporting homeless individuals in the Canterbury area. This can involve building a rapport with people who, for various reasons, choose not to access our centre with the goal being to work towards them accessing our services.
I joined Catching Lives as a volunteer in 2013 before becoming the Project Leader in 2016. My current role is to support the team of Project Workers who assist our clients. I also oversee the day-to-day running of our day centre services, providing support to our Fundraiser, Data Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator. After nearly a decade at Catching Lives I have seen many clients take positive steps forward in their lives and I am always inspired by seeing how those who are in difficult situations manage to remain strong and resilient, which in turn inspires me to continue to do the work I do.
I joined Catching Lives in 2017 after completing a degree in Fine and Applied Art at CCU. Prior to that I worked as a theatre technician and then a Production Arts teacher at Canterbury College.
I trained and qualified as a psychiatric nurse in 1987 from the Lawson School of Nursing, St Augustine’s Hospital, Chartham. Since that time I have worked in a range of statutory mental health settings including in-patient, residential adolescent unit and the community.