We are delighted to welcome our new Chief Executive, Donna-Louise Cobban, who joins us at the helm of Emmaus Village Carlton this week.
Donna-Louise brings with her a wealth of experience in leading and shaping person-centred, trauma-informed homelessness support services, as well as spearheading an organisation supporting people impacted by immigration detention.
Her interest in the homeless sector began around 10 years ago when she volunteered with Crisis, the national homeless charity. She was astounded at the extent of street homelessness and inspired by the determination and resilience of the people she supported,
She said: “I will always remember one of the first men I spoke to who hadn’t had a proper conversation with another person for many weeks and was experiencing strong suicidal thoughts. This experience planted the seed in my mind that I knew I wanted to work in the homeless prevention sector.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Donna-Louise led support services at Wintercomfort for the Homeless in Cambridge, developing successful person-centred, trauma-informed services.
This experience provided her with the necessary senior leadership skills for her first CEO role with Beyond Detention in Bedford which supports people impacted by immigration detention.
Donna-Louise said: “I led the organisation through a period of new strategic direction following the pandemic and helped set the focus for the charity with increased support services and community engagement.”
Commenting on her new appointment, she said: “I am delighted to be returning to the homeless sector as Chief Executive of Emmaus Village Carlton, I have always admired the work that Emmaus does locally and nationally.
“No one chooses to be homeless lightly and I firmly believe that people need effective personalised support to recover both mentally and physically to rebuild their lives. I am excited to be able to do what I can to contribute to the ethos of Emmaus.
“I’m looking forward to being able to bring my leadership experience to support the development of the community for the companions, volunteers and staff from a support services perspective, as well as developing the retail and commercial opportunities in the organisation. I look forward to meeting our many loyal customers and supporters.”
Jeremy Reynolds, our Chair of Trustee, said: “Extending a very warm welcome to Donna-Louise on behalf of everyone at Emmaus Village Carlton. We’re very excited to have Donna-Louise on board and look forward to working with her to achieve continued success for our wonderful charity.”
Outside of work Donna-Louise volunteers with Bedford Samaritans where she is a listening volunteer and part of the outreach team, providing emotional support to people experiencing suicidal thoughts. The team also works with Bedfordshire’s emergency services to provide support and training on suicide awareness.
Originally from Edinburgh, Donna-Louise has been a Bedfordshire resident for the past 18 years. A keen runner, she has completed the Bedford Running Festival three times and enjoys long distance walking with friends.
In her spare time she also enjoys keeping fit in the gym and going to music gigs, as well as attending many of Bedford’s great community events throughout the year such as Bedford Park Concerts and the River Festival, both of which are firm favourites.