Part of the journey toward a life in recovery. | The Salvation Army

You are here

Part of the journey toward a life in recovery.

Catherine Turner

My name is Catherine Turner and I am the director of Addiction Services for the Wellington and Central referral region.

I have worked in the health and disability sector for over 20 years as a manager with range of organisations, including setting up my own Non-Governmental Organisation and managing 260 staff across the lower Central Region for IDEA services.

I was employed by The Salvation Army in January 2014. The job was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a chance to get back into the field of addiction rehabilitation services and it made use of my past experience and gave me a chance to develop services into the future.

I have family who were involved in The Salvation Army and I liked the values of the organisation and the commitment to making a difference in people’s lives.

In addition to managing staff and overseeing contracts I work a lot with other organisations, building relationships and looking at the big picture seeing how we can work together to build capacity in our sector to achieve the best for clients.

We’re not an ordinary addiction service provider; there is so much we do. We work on development and prevention with a broad group of stakeholders, from the Police and the Ministry of Social Development to helping train Drug-ARM volunteers. But we are also increasing client referrals to our traditional alcohol, drug and gambling addiction rehabilitation services.

I have seen the other side of people needing and going through rehabilitation and it’s given me an understanding of client’s needs, and a passion and a commitment to promoting the best out of our people, their families and community.

I really enjoy the opportunities of this role, supporting our people and programmes and being part of the journey toward a life in recovery.