'The organisation had been crying out for leadership' - New chief executive for The Haven in Wolverhampton talks about keeping traditions of charity going

Laura Rogers took over as chief executive of the Haven Wolverhampton on May 1, marking a new permanent leader at the helm of the charity following the departure of Popinder Kaur in June 2024.

Ms Rogers had previously worked with West Midlands Police as a leading expert in how to respond to high-risk domestic abuse cases for some six years as part of the region's multi-agency risk assessment conference, as well as having worked at Black Country Women's Aid.

She said that it had been an incredible experience so far and said that her previous experiences of working with the Haven had given her a good head start and detailed how she had worked with staff to ensure that everyone felt part of the future of the organisation.

She said: "I came from a strategic role in policing where I had a really close relationship with the Haven for a long time before I joined, which gave me a brilliant head-start because I know lots of the wonderful people who work here, but it's been really busy and we've done a lot of work.

"My first port of call really was the workforce and making sure they felt valued, making sure they understood their roles and what we're all here for and I think the organisation had been crying out for leadership after such a long gap in any permanent leadership before I got here and we've had a brilliant few months doing that.

"We've defined our purpose, which is something we've curated in partnership with the staff themselves, so this is not me coming in as the boss and saying 'This is who we are', it's me going to them and saying 'Who are you? Why are you here? Why do you do the work that you do and what is the impact you think you have on women and children in the city?' and that has been super-fulfilling."

Ms Rogers said the work she had been doing came from an idea of collaboration and making sure that those working for the Haven were happy and fulfilled in their roles and were able to communicate what they felt was working and what wasn't working, all to help raise the standard of the charity.

She said: "That's what happens with organisations that have been around for 50 years as not everything is going to perfect, but some of it is going to be amazing, so we've tried to raise the standard of everything from staff welfare through to the organisation being efficient and making sure we're making the most of the time we have and the staff we have.

"That's meant the introduction of a few new roles and quite a few new areas of service as well, and if you look at the organisational structure now, you can get a really good feel for who we are and what works and how it works and I know that the staff were crying out for that.

"What that's done is get very proactive feedback from staff, who have been coming to us and saying that for the first time in a long time, this feels like somewhere they want to be and want to stay and see how it grows and the knock on effect from that is in the service delivery."

Another thing that Ms Rogers said she admired at the Haven was the number of fundraising events and challenges being taken on by people at the charity and supporters of the charity.

It will be something she will join in the efforts of Saturday as she, her partner Javan and her friend Sarah Pugh climb Mount Snowdon in Wales to raise funds for the Haven, a challenge she said was daunting, having never climbed a mountain before, but was worth it because of two big motivations for herself.

She said: "My motivation is two-fold as there is the work-related one and the personal one and so I have seen people all over the summer, from staff to the general public, doing their own bit to help the Haven through fundraising and donations and so I thought it was time I got involved.

"From a personal point, there is my own lived experience of domestic abuse, but also the fact I went on quite a significant weight loss journey a couple of years ago and lost more than eight stone, and I would have never climbed a hill, let alone a mountain at that point as I was more than 300 pounds.

"We've had people jumping out of planes to do skydiving and all sorts of other things, so it's very much about 'Why not?', and so I want it to be a mantra that we can still be doing our bit while working with the public to do their bit too.

"I know that it will be overwhelming for me doing the challenge and getting to the top of the mountain as the chief executive of this charity is huge for me, so I'm just really excited."

Ms Rogers said that her own experiences with domestic abuse had shown her how recovery isn't a quick fix, but is something which takes a long time, and said the focus would always remain on supporting women and children, but also taking a longer term view towards supporting them through their life journey.

She said: "My own experiences of domestic abuse were 15 years ago and I have a child from that relationship who I'm raising into a wonderful little boy and have tried to lead by example for him to show that you can overcome your worst days and use your story to change other people's lives.

"While I feel recovered from my experience, it wasn't quick and it didn't happen overnight, it took many years and I was working in the sector for several years before I started to feel I was really rising up and out of that.

"Our approach hasn't changed as we offer our safe accommodation and community support sessions, but one of the significant things we want to achieve in the next year or so is the full holistic recovery journey for people, so that from the point of disclosure when they first tell somebody about their domestic abuse and are referred into our service, we will be with them all the way through to them truly being on their recovery journey.

"That means counselling services, therapeutic services and post-their exit from safe accommodation, we recognise that recovery from domestic abuse is not linear at all and somebody's journey could be three years, four years or even 50 years long because of the trauma they have experienced.

"We want to be a service that is able to be there not just in crisis, but actually on a very long term basis for people, and I hope that is what we will get to."