WSES support is about much more than helping people find work
‘Just get a job,’ people say – but there is often so much more to it than that. Warwickshire Supported Employment Service is busy busting the myths around what success looks like in helping people towards and into the world of work, explains WSES interim delivery lead Charlotte Smith..
Since its creation earlier this year, Warwickshire Supported Employment Service has been supporting customers that are in paid work and also those that are on their pathway towards finding work.
It would be easy to assume that success is measured simply in getting more people with a learning disability and/or autism into employment full stop. However, the WSES team has been thinking about the achievements of our customers and how the smaller steps that lead them towards their end goal of employment should also be celebrated.
One of our Supported Employment Journey Guides, Jo Prosser, who is based in Nuneaton. recently attended a fantastic celebration event at the ‘Get Into’ NHS Programme with the George Eliot Hospital and the Princes Trust.
This collaboration was made possible by Heather Docksey from the Fair Chance Employer programme putting WSES in touch with Clare Barlow from the hospital. It has resulted in the hospital adapting their previous offer of volunteering by developing and designing a new route into the programme, alongside WSES staff, for customers with additional support needs, so they too can have access to completing work placements at George Eliot hospital.
Jo explains how incredible it was to see how much her customers had achieved and how proud they were of their achievements. She describes how one of her customers, Emma Taylor, has blown her away with the changes that she has seen.
When Emma first joined the service, she needed support to access public transport and her self-esteem and confidence were low. Emma has since gone on to complete the volunteering programme at George Eliot Hospital and she has even had the confidence to apply for a job there.
Emma has not only started to recognise her skills and qualities and apply these to jobs but has developed confidence in socialising with her peers. She recently joined friends at a pub and has helped plan a cinema trip with her supported volunteering group, something she said she hasn’t done in three years.
Emma’s dad said that seeing her at the Prince’s Trust presentation reminded him of what he once saw in Emma on stage as a girl, where she was most happy, and that it was so nice to see her smile like that again.
Emma said: “Picking up the phone was the first step I took on this journey, being honest about the fact I wasn’t quite sure who I was after getting a late diagnosis of autism.
“Leaving the house and catching the bus was my next achievement, and I have not stopped growing since. I am now the real me and this is who I want to be, in a world where I don’t have to hide any more. I am no longer scared of judgement and, even though I have only just started my journey, I can’t wait to carry on growing and developing more confidence.
“I am now no longer trying to change myself to find the right job, I know I can now work without changing myself.”
Emma has shown confidence and resilience on her journey into work, and at WSES we celebrate every step along the way, however small that might seem for each of our customers on their own personal journey. Those moments that might seem small to some, such as attending a group session in the job club for the first time or attending a 1:1 independently, are sometimes the moments we celebrate just as loudly as getting the phone call that they have got a job.
Our customers are breaking down barriers daily and, at WSES, we fully appreciate and admire, and never take for granted. the effort that goes into that growth.