The future can be scary if you really don’t know what your options are. Having a roadmap with ideas of where to start would help and what that involves is the topic of this episode with Tom Conroy, the new business manager at Grace Eyre. Tom talks about not only his role as the first point of contact and what that can mean from identifying employment opportunities to explaining housing options, but also the challenges of the role. These challenges often occur because people are unaware of their options.

Welcome to this first episode of this Profile Series on The Grace Eyre Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting people with additional needs to live their lives exactly how they want to. In this episode I’m talking to Jackie Reeve about the Sharing Our Voices project. This episode is about starting at the beginning, looking at the history of the organization not just from a timeline perspective but from what can be learnt from history. You will hear from Jackie how this project provided not only a better understanding of how

The Bridging The Gap series has been all about highlighting some of the organisations that are providing solutions for young people, so they have more options when they want to move from school into employment. The key is to both engage with potential employers as well as provide young people with the skills and support they need. But the role parents play in bridging the gap shouldnt be forgotten. In this solo episode I talk about what we as parents can do For and With

In this part 2 of my conversation with the team at Forward2Employment (F2E) the focus is on the role of the job coach as well as hearing from current interns and from graduates of the supported internships program. Two of the job coaches, Robert Harris and Christine Richards, talk about why their role encompasses more than just coaching the intern in the workplace but also helping them build the skills they need as they move on from this program. We hear from some of the current interns

In this episode of the Bridging The Gap series I’m talking to the team at Forward2Employment (F2E) about their supported internships program. This episode is really about getting the foundations in place with Liz Halton, the Head of F2E, explaining why the program came about and how it was created as well as the vision of F2E to change the employment expectations of young people with additional needs. Angie Gillett, the Employment Engagement Officer, discusses how they have

Time for a celebration and to reflect on the journey so far. It all started out with an idea that there had to be more out there for my daughter. I saw that she and other children, with additional needs, need extra support, in specific areas, to build the skills that will enable them to live more independently as adults. This became our Route Map, and the topics of the podcast. There are 4 lines on the Route Map: Purpose, Daily Living, Relationships and Financial Independence.

In this the second part of my conversation with staff and students from The Oaks Specialist College it’s all about the results. We hear from Joshua Epstein, the Careers Leader, about his role and the importance of job coaches but also making sure the young people they work with develop skills they can use when any support is removed. I also speak to five of the students from The Oaks about their experiences of work. Every single one of them has a clear presumption of employment evidence that the approach at the Oaks is actually bridging that gap

In this the first episode of a new series on Bridging The Gap I’m talking to two people from The Oaks Specialist College based in the UK. This episode is really about vision. Gordon Tillman, the CEO, discusses why The Oaks came into existence and its role not only in changing the lives of the young people it supports but also changing the perceptions of businesses and communities. Jackie Thurtle, the Project Manager at The Oaks, discusses the challenges with bringing the vision into reality

In this the final episode of this Ways into Work series I’m doing a solo episode to talk about my learnings from the past 8 episodes. It’s definitely not a recap of the previous episodes but more my ideas around the two things I see as being pivotal in enabling many more young people to get into paid employment.
Firstly perceptions, if we change these we change everything. The soft bigotry of low expectations is there for young people with additional needs and through employment

In this episode the focus is on Apprenticeships as one of the Ways Into Work. Mark Capper, the Business Development Manager at Mencap UK, discusses the role that supported internships and traineeships play in preparing people for work. He outlines how apprenticeships differ from these and the challenges that young people can face in getting an apprenticeship, often related to the apprenticeship standards as well as a reticence from some training providers