In this episode of The Ways Into Work series, the focus is on the barriers that prevent many young people, with additional needs, getting and keeping paid employment. Kirsty Timberlake from Neurodiversally Unbroken discusses the barriers that are in place and ways to break those barriers down. Kirsty is on a mission to educate and enlighten people, through her own life experiences and by sharing the latest research, to break down stereotypes and encourage people to think not assume.

The focus of this episode, in the Ways Into Work series, is Supported Employment with David Stenning from The Education People. David talks about the Supported Employment model and putting the young person at the centre but also supporting those around them. He discusses how vocational profiling helps in teasing out the transferable skills that a young person may have. David explains why employer engagement and educating employers about issues like reasonable adjustments is so important.

In this the second part of Ways Into Work – Inclusive Job Boards Jane Hatton from Evenbreak discusses the importance of young people with additional needs learning to truly value the transferable work skills they already have, which have often been developed because of their life experiences. She also talks about the role parents play in helping create that sense of self worth in their children, reminding them of their unique talents and why these will be useful when they look for work.

In this episode of the Ways Into Work series we are talking to Jane Hatton from Evenbreak about how their inclusive Job Board is connecting employers with premium employees. Young people with additional needs can be extraordinary employees because they have already dealt with all the challenges their disability and often society has thrown at them. Evenbreak supports people to realise and maximise their own value and connects them with employers who appreciate their skills.

Latest episode in the Ways Into Work series. In this episode we discuss with Richard Lamplough from My Employment Passport the role of local communities in providing paid work opportunities for young people with additional needs. In addition he explains how our own networks of friends and colleagues can be a valuable source of employment and work experience opportunities.

In this episode we continue the series Ways Into Work exploring the role of employers, education providers, government agencies and parents in creating Supported Internship programs that help young people with additional needs find and retain paid work. Claire Cookson, CEO of DFN Project Search also discusses why developing employability skills along with the presumption of employment needs to become the place we start at when it comes to education for our children.

In this new series Ways Into Work we start off by looking at Supported Internships how they work and why this model has proved so successful at getting young people with additional needs into long term paid employment. Claire Cookson the CEO of DFN Project Search explains how the program works and the different people involved, such as job coaches. She also discusses why the way success is measured matters so much for programs like these.

After speaking to organisations in both the UK and USA, I believe there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in the future, despite the recent impact of employment opportunities for young people with additional needs due to Covid. It seems to me that we collectively have a stronger sense of community after the last year, and we place greater value on other human beings. If we capitalise on this change in priorities then, just maybe, we can change presumptions when it comes to employment.