Name: Manpreet Kaur Bahra

Position: Advice and Advocacy Caseworker

What you do in your position:
I am a caseworker working on the Community Safety Net Project (CSN) at the Nishkam Centre. We assist all communities with advice, guidance and advocacy in Welfare Benefits, Housing, Debt and provide a holistic approach in all requested needs.

What difference you make:

Where a person cannot help themselves, we empower them to improve their self-reliance, confidence, and overall wellbeing. Where a person cannot dispute a benefit decision, we coach, mentor, write submissions, represent, and challenge at First Tier Tribunal level. The Community Safety Net Project at the Nishkam Centre have a very high success rate in appeals. We have a 360° approach in supporting our clients to identify root causes and provide positive outcomes.

We go above and beyond holistically creating a welcoming environment, serving the community, supporting others, and improving lives.  

What keeps you motivated?

We are motivated by the virtues that are instilled in the Nishkam Centre and campus. Through our roles we endeavour to practice the values with our thoughts and actions. We are very passionate in helping others and making a difference with love and compassion.

All staff, volunteers, and service users at the Nishkam Centre are one big family. We work together as a great team helping one another to become the best we can, ensuring our mental, spiritual, and physical wellbeing is intact. Working with a great team, with the same mindset, we also remain motivated.

Name: Ajit Singh

Position: Director

What you do in your position:
Planning for the future and delivering against our strategic plan to ensure NCA remains relevant and able to meet the needs of beneficiary groups against an ever-challenging environment.

What difference you make:
Striving to see and bring out the infinite potential in others through personal and professional development. Maximising partnerships, resources and funding to build a robust, service led and sustainable organisation

What keeps you motivated?
Privileged to work with a comitted team of talented staff and volunteers, all of whom hold a strong sense of purpose and service to others.

Name: Annu Yadav

Position: Events Co-Ordinator

What you do in your position: 
I cover the reception and handle the preparation for conference and events that go on in the centre, I complete health risk assessments and work with the apprenticeship team by carrying out research and creating posters/leaflets for the program.

What difference you make:
I make sure that the conferences and events are set up and look presentable and also ensuring that the centre is safe by completing health risks and ensuring any risks are removed.

What keeps you motivated?
Doing the work to the best of my ability and gaining experience and new skills.

Name: Nosheen Wajid

Position: Project Lead & Advice and Advocacy Caseworker

What you do in your position:
I provide professional and comprehensive project management for the community safety net project; I coordinate the efforts of the CSN team and also handle casework.

What difference you make:
I try to maximise household income through benefit eligibilities and manage debts through minimising payment plans or disputing unfair decisions, I also represent first tier tribunal appeals furthermore I help with social housing applications and assessing relevant bandings awarded, the most crucial part is empowering my clients so that they can become self-sufficient as well as helping the most vulnerable who would ordinarily fall through the gaps

What keeps you motivated?
I stay motivated through the strong bond I have with my team offering and receiving reinforcement and encouragement, through prayers , and working through difficult cases and finding beneficial solutions, overcoming the challenge and achieving a successful outcome.

Name: Kashmir Kaur

Position: Housekeeping

What you do in your position:
I am responsible for making sure that the centre is cleaned up to a high standard so that it is presentable.

What difference you make:
The difference I make is how the centre is seen and I get to impact peoples first perception of the centre by ensuring that it is not messy and looks good.

What keeps you motivated?
Keeping my family happy and wanting to keep myself busy and fit is the key to my motivation.

Name: Harpal Singh Barrah

Position: Facilities

What you do in your position:
I set and clear up all the conferences, wash up, jet washing, window cleaning, drain cleaning, fixing the toilets, fixing anything that is broken and doing all the odd jobs like changing the setup of the rooms.

What difference you make:
I do the best I can, I did the carpet on my knees and Baba Ji said it was done beautifully; I like to make people laugh and make their day.

What keeps you motivated?
God keeps me motivated and seeing everyone in the morning, I am never lazy and enjoy my work.

Name: Surjeet Kaur Matharu

Position: South Asian Family Support Hub Caseworker

What you do in your position:
In my position I am responsible for receiving and sorting the mail, greeting visitors and ­answering calls and redirecting them to the appropriate people as well as filling out query forms for the clients. Furthermore I issue receipts for payments update the team’s calendar and help track our recycling and footfall records I am always alert and vigilant, checking who is coming in the building.

What difference you make:
The difference I make is being the first impression of the NCA when a client walks in, I always greet everyone with a smile and try to help them to the best of my abilities.

What keeps you motivated?

I stay motivated because I enjoy what I do and truly believe that we can make ­­­­positive changes in the community and seeing a smile on a client’s face after they’ve gotten help is what keeps me going.

Name: Saheed Khan

Position: Digital Marketing Apprentice

What you do in your position:
In my position I help the different departments on any work that they might need done, like market research for the apprenticeship program or making phone calls for our learning and development classes, on top of this I am managing the content for the new website we are designing.

What difference you make:
I help around the office allowing my peers to focus on work within their speciality and alleviating some of their work so that we can do more within a shorter amount of time.

What keeps you motivated?
Trying different tasks and learning different skills is what keeps me motivated to keep on completing my work to a high standard.

Name: Zainab Bibi

Position: Strengthening Families and Welfare Services Lead

What you do in your position:
The aim is to help those less fortunate and facing complex situations and hurdles in life. By securing further funding streams for the sustainability of NCA and successful delivery of the Strengthening Families Welfare Services projects which include Community Safety Net (CSN), South Asian Family Support Hub (SAFSH) and Aasra Hub. To develop and implement SFWS project ideas and proposals with accurate budgets. Providing professional & comprehensive project management support for SFWS projects. Quality monitoring and performance management to ensure on target delivery and reporting of all deliverables. Developing partnerships and to develop, amplify and influence systemic change through social policy work.

What difference you make:
Through our projects we aim to benefit our clients, service users with long-term, beyond the immediate help in accessing services. We use a client centred approach and deal with users as they present, rather than the issues they present. Our aim is to provide holistic support to our communities with interlinked services. Our client’s journey is focused around the ‘8 wellness dimensions’, covering environmental, financial, physical, occupational, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual factors. Projects that give back to the community to help with Information and Guidance, to reduce isolation, to be a beacon of help to families struggling to make ends meet.

What keeps you motivated?
Firmly believe that helping others is the key to finding one’s own happiness, a central focus of the Nishkam Centre’s ethos of ‘paying it forward’. “Acts of kindness, generating a ripple effect from one person to the next, one community to the next”. To make stronger and resilient families, as Mother Teresa said, ‘A life not lived for others, is not a life’. I am grateful for my family and because I am grateful, I want to give back and make a difference to people’s lives. A life lived with values.

Name: Inderjit Sharma

Position: Front office Receptionist

What you do in your position:
At the reception I answer the calls and record the problems of the clients to be sent to the appropriate department as well as redirecting calls to the appropriate people, I sign in all the visitors and students so we have a log of who comes in and out, I also receive and collect the deliveries that come in and notify the recipients. Moreover I issue receipts against cash payments, help prepare the weekly calendar of events and translate the queries of clients to our IAG services.

What difference you make:
When I am at the reception I try to help the people who are vulnerable and need it as well as helping the departments by keeping track of clients and events coming up and ensuring there are no scheduling conflicts.

What keeps you motivated?
I stay motivated by the chance to develop effective communication skills and knowing I am gaining skills that can be used to further my career, to add to this I can do hours that fit around my schedule as I am currently studying.

Name: Jagtar Singh Mohr

Position: Apprenticeship Assessor

What you do in your position:
Provide a high quality service to employers and community members aged 16 and over providing suitable apprenticeships in all relevant sectors in order to meet local and regional demand. To encourage the strong Nishkam values and incorporate these into our delivery of apprenticeships to make a difference to the whole community.

What difference you make:
To provide a platform to launch careers for people who want to learn new skills and become experts in their chosen careers and meet their aspirations.

To bring together employer and apprentices so that both parties mutually benefit from strong working relationships which help build the economy giving growth and expansion for the employer and building the workforce of the future which has the right skills, qualifications to meet demand.

Give back to the community by reskilling and upskilling the local community and ensuring they have a bright future and fill the skills gap that has emerged.

What keeps you motivated?
Taking people from various backgrounds and equipping them for the future so they have right skills set, strong values and to be in career that they really want.

Name: Manjit Kaur

Position: Learning and Development and Volunteer Coordinator

What you do in your position:
I coordinate all Professional, Enrichment and Life Skill courses, from organising marketing material and setting up open days to recruit potential students for courses/Apprenticeships, I support each learner with their journey through our programs this could be emotional and educational support.

I would like to be there and help all students to make sure that they feel comfortable to approach me if they have any concerns, so I think good communication between staff and students are very important. I have taught some of our classes and arrange/invigilate all AAT exams for our students.

I take care of the volunteer process from the moment a potential volunteer makes enquiries through to their start date.

What difference you make:
I feel like I make a difference by listening to the needs of the students and being an approachable figure so that their time here is successful and they become self-sufficient and motivated to carry on to the next stage whether it is education or work.

Nishkam is about caring, supporting all those that come through our doors.

What keeps you motivated?
I have taught some of our classes previously which fulfils my childhood dream of teaching, when I see the difference that I have made in someone’s life after they have started volunteering at the centre or has completed a course successfully. Volunteering has been life changing for the majority of our volunteers and has open doors to opportunities elsewhere; this along with seeing members of our community trusting us and coming back to the centre when they need help keeps me motivated because I know that I am impacting people’s lives positively.

Name: Rajinder Singh Bhogal

Position: Centre Support Lead / South Asian Family Support Hub Project Lead 

What you do in your position:
I am responsible for the smooth and effective day to day running of NCA by ensuring that the building is regularly cleaned and maintained. Also ensuring that there is always cover for front of house and that all staff are aware of Covid-19 risk assessments for NCA when dealing with service users. I also look at all the contracts to ensure NCA is getting the best deals financially without compromising quality or safety. I also manage 6 staff in total my role being to enable them to carry out their duties in line with the ethos, morals and values of NCA.

I am also the Project Lead for the South Asian Family Support Hub where we work with individuals and families around positive family relationships, single or multiple complex issues, working with children and adults ensuring safeguarding and any other issues that families or individuals may be struggling to cope with.

What difference you make:
NCA like all community organisations has been affected by the Covid lockdowns and I am working towards getting NCA back to pre-lockdown levels by being more prudent in what and how we do things.

What keeps you motivated?
Bhai Sahib Ji’s blessings, values and morals, our service users, helping people and NCA being a great place to work courtesy of the Board and management.

Name: Jasvinder Kaur Sembi (MSc, APMP)

Position: Operations Manager (Quality and Compliance Lead)

What you do in your position:
Operational responsibility for developing and drive key change programs for the NCA across all departments. Continuously look for business improvement to achieve world-class best practice ways of working, including process, systems, tools, and quality with continuously enhance the NCA team’s capability and performance. Work with key stakeholder’s internally and externally to increase business efficiency and effectiveness.

Responsible for Quality and compliance on our Apprenticeship program, working within our communities by transforming the delivery and development of our Apprenticeship program.

What difference you make:
A solid track record of effectiveness under pressure and proven ability to meet challenging business and personal targets.

A self-starter with a flexible approach to think conceptually, resolving problems and formulating creative solutions. Ability to plan and manage work / life Parameters.

As part of an improvement project, led on a key project during the height of the pandemic and established Nishkam Aasra Hub, to support elders who were suffering from isolation and emotional needs.

What keeps you motivated?
Motivation comes from within by connecting and living to my values is key and giving back to society on all that I have achieved. My passion drives and pushes me harder to achieve and to make a positive difference on everything I do.