Meet the Team
Get to know the people behind our work. This page introduces the individuals who bring their expertise, passion, and dedication to everything we do. From trustees to staff, each team member plays an important role in helping us achieve our aims and deliver the best possible experience for our member projects, clients and the community.
Joshua Brettell / Chair of Trustees
Joshua Brettell has served as a Trustee of the Community Chaplaincy Association since March 2025 and became Chair in October 2025. He holds a Master’s degree in Criminology and has worked across prison resettlement and criminal justice services for over a decade.
Joshua previously served as CEO of Change for Good, a CCA member organisation, for six years and has been part of the CCA network for more than ten years, from volunteer and support worker roles into senior leadership. Joshua is currently CEO of Sing Inside.
Mark Mansell / Trustee
Mark’s career was in law, where as well as his corporate legal work, he was his Firm’s Joint Head of Pro Bono and Community Engagement, and he still sits as a board member on their Foundation.
Mark first got involved in prison work 15 years ago, initially as a Chaplaincy volunteer at a local prison, and shortly afterwards, working with Futures Unlocked, a community chaplaincy working with prison leavers in Warwickshire. He became Chair of Trustees of Futures Unlocked 10 years ago. Since retiring as a private practice lawyer Mark completed a master’s in criminology and has spent an increasing amount of time involved with criminal justice. He is ordained and works as a Free Church Prison Chaplain at HMP Rye Hill and as a volunteer Chaplain at HMP Onley. At Rye Hill, his role has a particular emphasis on resettlement and trying to connect those leaving prison with community chaplaincies and other organisations and faith groups to provide support on their desistance journey.
Mark became a trustee of the CCA in 2023.
Revd Dr Allison Waterhouse / Trustee
Allison has been involved with prison chaplaincy since 2002 and the CCA since 2005. Her work has focussed on working 'through the gate' building relationships which support the release process and life outside. She was the resettlement Chaplain at Wandsworth Prison for 12 years and initiated Change for Good Community Chaplaincy and Next Chapter a peer community group which works across London.
Community/Resettlement Chaplains are very isolated, working in a challenging area, the CCA provides a forum for peer support as well as practical and professional advice. Allison benefits from this support, so has a particular interest in supporting the work of the CCA. She is trustee of both Change for Good CC and the CCA.
Her recent area of work has been research into the transformative potential of Christian spirituality; working from the lived experience of those imprisoned and afterward in the community. Throwing light on how spirituality can be better understood and supported after release. She is currently engaged in writing a book from her PhD research which will contribute to the training of Chaplains, particularly those associated with the justice system. She is also a spiritual director.
Tony Oehring / Trustee
Originally trained and qualified as a social worker, Tony worked primarily in child and family services and mental health before being ordained as a minister in the Church of England. He served in parishes in Dorset and Kent for 34 years before moving into full-time prison chaplaincy in 2012.
In 2013, Tony became Managing Chaplain at HMP Ford, a role he held until his retirement in 2020. His prison ministry was based in Category D prisons, where he developed a close connection with CCA through its work supporting resettlement, a key function within the open prison sector. He has been a trustee of CCA for around ten years.
In 2023, Tony took up a sessional role as temporary Anglican Chaplain at HMP Guys Marsh in Shaftesbury. He expects this role to become more supportive in nature following the appointment of a new full-time chaplain in 2026.
Alongside this work, Tony continues to support ministry in his local parish church.
Cathy Jerrard / Trustee
Cathy has a background in finance and the charity sector, and has dedicated her career to supporting marginalised people, particularly those leaving prison and rebuilding their lives in the community. Since moving into the charity sector in 2000, she has worked alongside people facing exclusion and disadvantage.
In 2005, she joined YMCA England as a Development Advisor, supporting youth-focused project development across England.
She played a key role in establishing a community chaplaincy vision in the South West, which became South West Community Chaplaincy (SWCC). She has worked with SWCC since 2012, supporting people transitioning from custody to community, and is a founding trustee of the Community Chaplaincy Association, strengthening chaplaincy networks across the UK.
Simon Tarlton / Growth & Development Officer
Simon is an Anglican Priest and a Chaplain at HMP Hewell and HMP Eastwood Park. He has been with the CCA since 2022. Prior to ordination he spent 20 years in the shipping industry before retraining in horticulture. He has degrees in Horticulture and Theology and a Master's in Peacebuilding and Reconciliation.
In his spare time Simon might be found gardening, cycling the lanes of Herefordshire or bravely cheering on his beloved West Ham Utd.
Zakkaria Sayed / Trustee