Meet Payal Sawhney of SAAHAS (Courage) For Cause in Cerritos

Today we’d like to introduce you to Payal Sawhney.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Payal. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started my career as a social worker over 20 years ago and have since worked in India, New York, Chicago and Cincinnati, and since 2016 in California. However, more importantly these experiences have been in varied clinical settings while using various research and quality improvement tools. My experience has included direct medical case management; psychiatric counseling for individuals, couples, families; group work with obese adolescent patients, mental health patients; adherence coaching; adherence research; motivational interviewing; quality improvement projects; self-management initiative for adolescents with poorly controlled asthma and learning tools of design thinking and innovation.

After graduating from Masters in health Administration (MHA), I joined Cincinnati Children Hospital’s international patient and family experience team as a project manager with active collaborations with guest services and family relations. Since my move to the LA area, I have worked with SAHARA, a nonprofit organization, including as their Clinical Director, where I was responsible for the management of the clinical team and SAHARA’s domestic violence shelter facility. However, starting in 2019 a group of like-minded volunteers launched a new community-based organization, SAAHAS for Cause of which I serve as the President. SAAHAS (Courage) for Cause works for the empowerment of the immigrant community in the United States. We have linguistic and cultural competence and expertise to serve the South Asian community but aim to serve all in need.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Opening a new non-profit has been both logistically and personally challenging.

Personally, it meant I had to give up my full-time job and start working for my self (read = for free!). It meant that I was working from my home (garage) but that concept was not easy for my three children and mother (who lives with us) to understand. Seeing me in the house all day made me an easy target for being asked/told to perform home chores anytime of the day. This forced me to be firm in my message to the family that my work time has to be respected, just as if I was working in an office,

Logistically, starting a non-profit from scratch was a steep learning curve for me. I reached out to anyone and everyone that I thought could help or mentor me. Friends, family, acquaintances, previous work colleagues, you name it. The most fruitful was to network with people who were a few steps ahead of me in the same journey. The most challenging and new part for me was fundraising. I had never raised money before, and now this was a major responsibility of mine. We needed fuel for the fire, and I learnt that showcasing our work was the best way to move people and get them to open their wallets. We are clearly not done but we have made some progress with a small number of dedicated sustaining donors supporting our almost 100 volunteers!

Please tell us about SAAHAS (Courage) For Cause.
SAAHAS (Courage) for Cause is a not for profit organization that was formed in the beginning of 2019 by group of South Asian female volunteers. The journey of an immigrant, which is full of challenges due to unknown and unfamiliar paths that they have to travel through to reach their dream goal. SAAHAS is there to help guide and support them.

We provide our immigrant support services in LA county and Orange county through:
• Wellness forums
• Educational meetups
• Support groups
• Outreach
• Individual sessions

We are proud of being a 100% female volunteer not for profit that provides support to immigrants to the United States. We serve all but our core expertise lies in our ability to provide linguistically appropriate and culturally sensitive holistic care to those that immigrated from the South Asian Sub-Continent.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I wanted to get started and did so fast and furiously. Looking back my eagerness to get off the starting blocks could have been tempered a bit. If I were to start all over again, I would spend more time discussing the scope of the project with focus groups and gain insight for logistical challenges from other entrepreneurs, and schedule frequent check-ins with mentors.

I do all of these things now, but it would have saved me from a lot of early false starts if I had done these things ahead of jumping into the deep end!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saahasforcause.org
• Phone:  (562)526-2508
• Email: info@saahasforcause.org
• Instagram: saahasforcause
• Facebook: FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/saahasfc/?tn-str=k*F Facebook Tag: @saahasfc

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