My name is Julie Asumu and a mother of three children. I am an African trained diploma holder in Social Work with teaching qualifications; I hold a BSc (Hons.) degree in psychology from Manchester Metropolitan University. After four years of looking after my grandchildren, I started volunteering in community work. By 1994 I supported the development of the present Family Support Centre and later was employed as the Project Manager. Since 2008 without funding, I continued in a fulltime voluntary capacity to support families at Chrysalis.
I am a proud stalwart of the community living and working in Moss Side, supporting people from multicultural and disadvantaged communities at a grassroots level. I served on various committees in the voluntary and statutory sector both in Africa and in the UK. I supported the development of ‘Home Start’. I trained in facilitation of parenting skills programmes such as ‘Webster Stratton’, ‘Strengthening Families and Communities’ and Parenting Across Cultures.
My scope of work includes self-awareness activities through in-house information sharing, seminars and conferences. The focus is on health, education and cultural awareness appropriate to their specific cultural needs. This training is now Continuous Personal Development (CPD) accredited. Manchester City Council has awarded me on two occasions for my service to the community. One for recognition of my ten years commitment in fostering by the Manchester Children’s Services. My work extends to the Her Majesty’s Prison Service supporting young women detainees in Styal and men in Strangeways and Risley. I voluntarily supported young offenders as ‘Appropriate Person’ under the Greater Manchester Police in 2016/2017. I am still actively volunteering full time at the Chrysalis Family Centre supporting families, especially migrants whose children have been taken into care.