Case study 1 – Ellen Sivil
Ellen joined the Clarion Futures Increase VS project back in September 2019. She had been out of work a few months (having been made redundant from Tesco) and was considering her employment options. She had already sought advice from a number of external parties in terms of career direction and had decided on jobs in landscaping and construction, as she enjoyed being outdoors and preferred manual work to sitting down on the checkout all day. She had completed a Level 1 in Landscaping and was now looking at how to get started in the industry.
Ellen was introduced to her Clarion Futures Employment Support Officer by the Job Centre and following a long discussion about what we could offer her, Ellen decided to join our CSCS course so that she could gain her labourers card, which would help her get into landscaping or construction roles. Ellen found the course challenging as she has a mild learning difficulty. We assisted by providing a reader for her CSCS assessment and also arranging for her to use the computer audio on the test practice and exam software. It took Ellen a long time to gain the confidence to book her CSCS test but with weekly coaching and mentoring, she took it and passed.
We introduced Ellen to the Women into Construction programme to help her explore the wider career options with her CSCS card. Ellen was nervous about entering into what was a predominately male environment so Women into Construction were able to organise a work placement for her to help ease her nerves and get her used to the environments and teams. This eventually led to a paid role will Hill Construction as a Ground worker?
Ellen has now been working with Hill construction for since January 2021 and is really loving the work. The site manager there is keen to offer her more challenging roles, but to do this Ellen would need the Traffic Marshall qualification. I spoke to Ellen regarding this and we have organised an on line course for her so that she can gain a better paid and more challenging role within Hill Construction.
Assistant Site Manager for Hill, Fran Favarulo said “Ellen has proved herself to be a valued member of the site team, who always shows a willingness to take on any challenge given to her. She is always punctual and shows real enthusiasm for everything she does on site. She has a contagious personality and is a real joy to work with”
Of her role with Hill Construction Ellen said, “I really enjoy it; the people are friendly and thank you once again for helping me.”
Case study 2 – Chadni Akther
Chadni was introduced to Active Inclusion through a referral from her previous Employment Support Officer on the Love London Working team.
Last year Chadni lost her sight completely at the age of 20. This significantly impacted her wellbeing and self-esteem. One of her main concerns was around how she would cope in the workplace and if she would get adequate support. As her sight had gradually gotten worse over the years, she didn’t have an extensive employment and volunteering history. Her goals were to master NVDA (screen reading software), begin to build up her volunteering and employment history on her CV and develop her digital skills.
Firstly Chadni and Vanessa (Chadni’s Employment Support Officer on Active Inclusion) updated her CV to ensure it was an accurate reflection of her skills, qualifications and past volunteering duties. Vanessa scheduled a meeting between herself, Chadni and Imran (our In-Work Support Officer) who discussed the different software that could aid Chadni in a potential job. Imran was crucial in helping relieve Chadni’s fears around discrimination and coping in a work setting.
Vanessa then set up a meeting with Abbie (our Mental Health Employment Specialist) who scheduled frequent sessions with Chadni to create a wellbeing plan. Chadni was able to open up and reflect on her strengths, achievements and her goals for the future. Additionally, Vanessa referred Chadni to the Clarion Futures Digital team who helped to create a makeshift Braille keyboard with Chadni so she was able to practice her digital skills.
As a next step Vanessa put Chadni forward for Transform and Achieve (a wellbeing and employability digital classroom). Once in contact with Transform and Achieve Chadni was actually offered a volunteering opportunity to write blog posts for them. Recently, Chandi and Vanessa completed a grant with the RNIB for her to get financial support to purchase training equipment for specialist software. Chadni has also been supported by the Clarion Futures Money Guidance team and following on from the teams advice Vanessa will be providing further support to enable Chadni to get onto the housing register with her local authority.
Moving forward a meeting has been arranged with Vanessa, Abbie, Chadni and her Visual Impairment Rehabilitation Officer to support her with sight anxiety. It’s been great to see Chadni become more confident, open up and see herself achieve goals she struggled to believe were possible. She has an updated accurate CV and has learnt to take control of her wellbeing. She has had meetings with our In Work Support Officer who has given her confidence to know she won’t be alone when she gets into work but most importantly, the dream she had of her voice and story being heard is happening with the blog posts she writes for Transform and Achieve – Vanessa Anyaeji (Active Inclusion Employment Support Officer)
Participant’s quote – ‘Thank you, I really do appreciate the support you guys have given me.’
