Hough Bellis: Trusting the Process

Rewilding means trusting a process without knowing exactly where it leads. That feels true of social housing – a sector constantly adapting to rising standards and new regulation in pursuit of better outcomes for tenants and communities. It's complex, fast-moving, and often overwhelming, especially when you're still learning your way around it.

Before joining Hough Bellis, I knew very little about social housing and its neighbouring areas, such as procurement or decarbonisation. This was an entirely new landscape to me with its own language, technical requirements, and legal standards. Even now, two years into the role, uncertainty still creeps in and I am reminded that there is always more to learn.

Having the right people beside me, much like the right conditions for a landscape to rewild, has helped me find my footing, and for me, that's been mentorship. It doesn’t completely remove uncertainty or provide the answer to every challenge I come across, but it instead gives me the tools and confidence to move forward even in uncertainty.

I have been very fortunate to experience this with my incredible manager, Els O’Keeffe, whose support ranges from the everyday, such as answering my many questions over Teams and helping to plan the week ahead during our Monday morning catch-up calls, to bigger moments where I have needed a helping hand to guide me through a complex issue.

Under her mentorship, I have learned to slow down and think more critically about my approach. When things go wrong, she’s always there to help me de-escalate my impending downward spiral (speaking as someone who has been ruminating about the typo I left in a client email a week ago).

I’m proud to be part of a company that values professional development and actively invests in its team, where we’re encouraged to pursue training opportunities and continue learning no matter what stage we’re at, and to work alongside colleagues who are always open to learning new skills and gaining new insight. This culture of support and skills development has made a significant difference in my own growth and in how I’ve adapted to the steep learning curve that can come with working in social housing.  

Through this, I’ve had the pleasure of having formal mentorship sessions with seasoned communications consultant Hayley James. Over a cup of coffee – and maybe a slice of cake – we talk through experiences and recent challenges.

These conversations help bring clarity to situations that have felt overwhelming in the moment. Without fail, I walk away with renewed perspective, feeling more confident and better equipped with practical methods that I can apply directly to my day-to-day work. This includes tools that help me manage and de-escalate my own anxieties or practical approaches to communicating more effectively under pressure.

This approach to professional development and connection has always been championed by WISH, where mentoring schemes and networking events have helped create the conditions for career growth, and it’s something I can personally testify has been genuinely impactful in practice.

I still have a long way to go, but I would not be where I am now without the guidance of the incredible women in my support system who have helped me reflect and grow, and who plant a little kindness, patience, and shared knowledge along the way, making the path a little easier for the next person to find.

Mentorship has helped me grow professionally and personally, showing me that progress is more about learning to move forward in uncertainty. And it’s something I hope I can replicate for someone else in the future.

Siobhan Cheung, Account Manager, Hough Bellis