Helen Cantrell, the new head of SOVA (Supporting Others Through Volunteer Action) the voluntary organisation that encourages social inclusion, has said that she intends to change the face of volunteering and make SOVA into a household name.

Cantrell comes to SOVA with a pedigree in the field of social justice and the socially excluded sectors, spanning the Criminal Justice systems and and treatment services.

She joins SOVA directly from the National Offender Management Service, where she was head of prison skills and employment, responsible for the policy, strategy, development and achievement of national targets related to learning, skills and employment across 140 prisons in England and Wales.

Cantrell priority is to grow SOVA's volunteer base. "Whilst we are enormously grateful for the continuing efforts of everyone who volunteers for SOVA, I also want to attract more people from a complete cross-section of society, not only in order for the organisation to be more representative of society as a whole but also to enable greater self-identification for those we are trying to help."

Although a new appointment, Cantrell has experience of working with SOVA, as she explained: "As a practitioner I linked up service users with SOVA volunteers, driven by my strong, personal belief that extra support from a volunteer reaches and meets needs a professional is unable to."

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