About Me

My name is Jemma, I am 37 and I live in Inverness. I lived in a small village, Skerray, on the North Coast until I was 14 years old. My family then moved to Forres where I lived for 7 years.

At 21 I moved to Inverness where I have been since (more or less!). I studied Business and Accounting at college, I had always planned to start my own business but of course life sometimes takes a wandering path! I got a job in Social Care, initially working with young people who had been in care and then moved onto supporting adults who were experiencing homelessness, substance misuse and mental health issues. I really love working with people and I did this for eight years. I then went back to working with younger people, working in residential homes and in crisis services for children and young people. Again I absolutely loved working with these amazing kids but fourteen years in social care takes a toll and I found myself completely frustrated with the system and I couldn’t give the same energy to the job as it deserved.

I have always done office work, books and admin type work on the side for friends and family and I know how helpful it can be to a business to have someone to take care of these types of tasks. I also wanted to something that would allow me freedom to travel and a job that could be mostly ‘virtual’. So after about 9 months of planning, training and, let’s be honest.... some procrastinating 😅 Helping Hand was born!

I am only a few months into my self-employed journey but I absolutely love it and the freedom it gives me. I really value being able to help others and this allows me to do this in a different way than I have done previously.