10 June 2026

June celebrates Pride Month. This month is a month-long celebration that recognises the LGBTQ+ community and their contributions to society. In celebration of Pride Month we sat down with Chedva to discuss her role at Hestia and involvement in our LGBTQ+ network. Chedva is a Refuge Worker at our refuge in South London and Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ network. 

Tell us about your role at Hestia. 

I started out working as a Support Worker at Hestia in complex mental health within the Croydon team. I lived quite far away from my workplace, so my area manager helped me look at other roles within Hestia that would help with work/life balance and I found this role.

I now work as a Refuge Worker. I support women and children that have fled domestic abuse, and we help them with their recovery journey. For each person that will mean something else. It could mean getting indefinite leave to remain in the UK, setting up their own finances or learning English. For the first few months we set goals and eventually help them find housing.

 

What does your day-to-day look like? 

 My day-to-day, when there’s no emergencies, is a mixture of meetings with clients to see how they are doing, any updates we should be aware of and looking at their support plans. It might be a matter of providing them with one-to-one coaching, therapy referrals, help with housing - making sure everything’s safe or getting repairs done. It could also look like going with them to their first job centre appointment or solicitor appointments depending on what their situation is.

"What’s really nice about my job is seeing the journey from when someone comes in to our refuge and seeing a difference in them four months later."

What is the best part of your job? 

What’s really nice about my job is seeing the journey from when someone comes into our refuge and seeing a difference in them four months later.

For example, one service user had a goal to meet friends and now they have a social life outside of the refuge. Another had a goal be surrounded by community and now they go to church every week. Another service user who had financial goals started with nothing and now they receive Universal Credit, budget and never run out of money. I have to often remind them that in a short amount of time, they’ve come so far.

At Hestia we have networks that bring together colleagues from across the organisation to support Hestia team and service users who identify as LGBTQ+. We’d love to know how did you get involved with the LGTBQ+ network?

In June last year the network was having a Pride Month social and my manager said “why don’t you go to it?” When the roles to be part of the LGTBQ+ network came out, bearing in mind I’d been at Hestia for two months, my manager encouraged me to go for it. I wanted to build my career and confidence, so it was a good space to be in with people that work at the charity out of the professional work environment. I thought, if anything comes from this it would be lovely to network. I didn’t know whether I was capable to apply for one of the roles within the network, but I applied and got the role.

 

What would you say to encourage someone to join the LGTBQ+ network?

When it comes to shouting about inclusivity and rights, if you can help someone that’s all that matters. While aspects of my main role might be stressful at times, it’s quite a nice moment to step back and think, “Can I help change policies or make our workplace more inclusive?” We have network meetings every two months and we get people’s feedback and then I’ll take that to the equality, diversity and inclusion meetings.

I love being involved whether it’s sending out emails to the network or connecting with members - it’s been an amazing opportunity to do this role. Being part of the network is a safe space for people to know that there’s no room for discrimination at Hestia. It’s all about knowing that they have that space.

“If you want to contribute to how you’d like to see change with LGBTQ+ inclusivity our network meetings are a really great space for that.”

If someone is LGBTQ+ identifying, joining the network can be nice for a few reasons. It’s an opportunity to come to the socials and meet other queer people at Hestia. Depending on someone’s background, that might give them a bit of confidence to realise just how ‘openly out’ you can be at work. Having conversations with others has been really nice. If you want to contribute to how you’d like to see change with LGBTQ+ inclusivity, our network meetings are a really great space for that.

If you’re an ally the reason to get involved is because you might not know best how to be present for someone in your team and I think sometimes when those conversations come up it allows you to get more comfortable and less awkward about certain conversations. For example, getting comfortable with asking someone’s pronouns. Surrounding yourself with something that’s not what you’re used to is a good place to see things differently.

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