Neelam Asif came to GRoW in early 2020 and has taken full advantage of everything GRoW has to offer, both in person and online. Neelam has recently started at part-time admin job working in an office.
Neelam said “I have taken a lot on board from the GRoW sessions. Right from the start the team have been so supportive, helping me with both professionally and emotionally. Like me, my GRoW adviser Saeema is Pakistani and so she understands my culture which really helps as I feel like she gets me. She has given me so much advice and equipped me with knowledge around the law and what I am entitled to. I have two young daughters and Saeema advised me how to apply for nursery funding and childcare. She always picked the phone up to me whenever I called and the help she gave me made me realise there was so much I could do myself and how I could go about getting the kind of support I need.
When I first came to GRoW I didn’t feel that comfortable around people as I’m quite shy. Saeema encouraged me to attend the weekly GRoW Coffee Mornings which are really great. I felt I could speak openly with other women there as they are very brave and intelligent. They want to do better and they gave me the courage to move forward myself.
My goal now is to get work in a school so that I can work just term-time. Through GRoW I learned about some training courses I could do for free and have now completed a Level 2 in Food and Safety and a Level 2 in Customer Service. Both were really helpful and I highly recommend other people take these courses. GRoW also helped me with an ESOL Level 1 course which I have completed.
Through lockdown GRoW were fantastic. They offered so much information around remote learning and offered ideas on how to help your children at home. They offered a support network that was so needed at that time.
I went to Sonia’s CV Workshop and she helped me to rewriteit as it needed so much work! The process of updating my CV really helped me understand the skills that I have and what I have to offer.
I was lucky enough to find out about an admin job that was available and so I applied and got the job. It started on 1st September and I am really enjoying it. The hours are 10-2 each day which works well around my children and my manager has been great in offering flexibility. If I have to leave early to pick up my daughter he allows me to continue my work from home.
I have grown so much in confidence since coming to GRoW. I now know how to talk to people and I feel like I have really come out of myself. It is all down to the support they have given me and I am so grateful to them.”