Our Team
Founders
Jerome is a co-Founder of Fresh Start Community Association. He has worked as a mental/psychological health professional since 1984. He specialised in Cognitive Therapy as part of his post graduate studies in Oxford university in 1994 and has since worked in the Psychology departments in the NHS and the private sector. He continues his consultancy work in the private and voluntary sector with individuals and groups, as a therapist, trainer, coach and mentor. He served the local primary school as a Governor for 8 years. Since 2003 he has served the local Air Cadets squadron as a Volunteer undertaking the responsibility for pastoral care for cadets and staff and is part of the civilian committee.
He was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in the UK since 1983. He is married to Machelle from Ireland and they are blessed with 8 children. His passion is to strengthen capacity of individuals, families and to build social capital in the community to become strong supportive communities. |
Machelle is a co-Founder of Fresh Start Community Association. Her professional training is in social work with special needs children and her expertise has been utilised within the voluntary sector. She is an effective trainer, mentor, and coach of individuals and groups. She was born in Ireland but has lived in England since 1988. As well as believing in the restoration of the family system, she is an activist in societal transformation. She is a voice for the voiceless, a networker, undergirded by clear boundaries with uncompromising integrity.
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Acting Project Manager
Machelle Joseph |
Machelle is acting as the Project Manager during our transition period.
Trustees
Married to David Peck, mother of 2 adult daughters. Prior to having her children, she ran her own company and since then has had a successful creative business alongside teaching. Since the 1980s she has helped set up and establish various charities and companies. Karen is able to bring her experience in the charity and commercial sectors to bear in the areas of finance, administration, leadership and communication. In her work Karen strives to enable people to walk through their confusion to build that which will last.
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Married to Karen Peck, David is a retired company director and a qualified adult education teacher. He brings a background of analysis and problem solving to team processes which is invaluable in effective planning and achieving goals. He has a rich family inheritance of several generations of Educationist. He has devised teaching modules in both the Charity and the Business sector.
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Davidson comes with background in business development, accounting and education. He is currently training to become a primary school teacher and has a passion to equip and empower children so that they fulfil their destiny and purpose. Davidson was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in the UK since 2003 and is married to Katie who is from England and they have four young children.
Shammah is a full time student studying Advertising & Marketing and has her own photography business. She has an eye for creativity and manages the social media for the charity . Shammah is a daughter of the founders, Jerome and Machelle, and has grown up being part of Fresh Start. As a result, she has a heart for the charity and the vision for empowerment to continue.
Koah has been involved in Fresh Start most of her life, being Machelle and Jerome’s daughter meant she had been very involved in Fresh Start growing up and still is to this day. She saw first-hand how the charity impacted many individuals, including the children who attended the events and activities that she became friends with. Koah is now a graduate with a degree in International Politics, Economics and Law and hopes to pursue a career in Commercial Law. She was an advisor at Citizen’s Advice Bureau for two years and is excited to bring her knowledge and experiences to the charity.
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Alison has worked as a Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist in the NHS since 1995. This role includes providing therapy, guiding and training parents and professionals, and working in a multi-disciplinary team. This background has given her a passion for empowering individuals to make their voice heard. She is motivated to see families and communities transformed through relationship and communication. She recognises the role of communication (in all its forms) in drawing out the uniqueness of every individual's identity, and the joy that comes from feeling known and understood. She is married to Guy, and they have three children.
Aman is an economics graduate and a financial law postgraduate with advanced research experience in the field of Behavioural Economics. He has taught Macroeconomics as a seminar tutor to first and second year undergraduates at university. Having volunteered at Fresh Start for 8 years, Aman has a heart for the community and believes in the power of transformation through social cohesion.
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