Neil Waller, Project Director

"I have worked for C.A.S.S. as the Project Director since 1993. That’s a long time and the organisation has grown but it is important for me that we can still largely make our own decisions about how we work with people and that we have kept an ethos of treating everybody as individuals, trying to respond to their own particular needs. Why have I stayed so long? The main reason is that I believe we are getting better at what we do and that gives me satisfaction. I know that is also one of the reasons that other staff stay. If people want to be here I believe that means that they will concentrate on their job and do it well. I still have some of the same core beliefs that I had when I started and these keep me motivated:that homeless people don’t want to be in the mess that they’re in – but without help or support their lives are likely to get worse, that we need to understand people before we can help them – but to understand we have to listen properly, that everybody has the potential to change – but we also have to give them the opportunities, that nobody likes crime and we are all potential victims of crime – but its what we do about it that matters and that not everybody gets the same start and opportunities in life and I have been lucky."