We’re proud to share that our CEO, Teresa Sutherland, has been featured in The Robertson Trust’s ‘Voices’ series, which highlights leaders and organisations driving meaningful change across Scotland.
In the piece, Teresa offers a powerful insight into CHAI’s frontline work supporting individuals and families experiencing poverty, trauma, and housing insecurity. She explains how our team delivers holistic, trauma-informed support directly in communities—through GP surgeries, schools, mental health centres, and more—ensuring people can access help when and where they need it most.
In the article, Teresa calls for long-term, unrestricted funding that supports not just frontline staff, but the core infrastructure—management, HR, admin, training, and systems—that holds everything together. As Teresa puts it, “You can’t build strong services without strong foundations.”.
Teresa also highlights how trauma and poverty are deeply linked, and stresses that truly effective support must be holistic, embedded in communities, and rooted in trust and dignity. To build a fairer, more sustainable system, funders need to back the whole organisation, not just individual projects.
We’re grateful to The Robertson Trust for sharing our story and for their unrestricted funding, which helps us continue to meet people where they are and walk alongside them toward stability, dignity, and lasting change.
Read the full feature on The Robertson Trust website: Voices: Teresa Sutherland, CHAI
