Forward Leeds beats National Careers Service targets

In January 2018 5 WAYS and Forward Leeds began a contract under Careers Yorkshire and Humber and the National Careers Service to help clients progress into work or training.

Since 5 WAYS began the programme they’ve seen 87 people, 37 of whom have been supported into some form of learning or sustainable employment, exceeding the targets set for 5 WAYS by the National Careers Service and Careers Yorkshire and Humber.

Joy, a qualified careers advisor at Forward Leeds, sees clients at 5 WAYS under the National Careers Service programme to provide information, advice and guidance to clients.

Joy Archer says: “I usually meet with people in recovery or who are nearing the end of their treatment for substance misuse. I’ll help them devise an action plan to move towards employment, training, learning or some form of sustainable voluntary work that complements their recovery.

“This normally involves creating a CV or reviewing a CV that they already have. This gives them the space to reflect on their skills and their personal qualities. As well as helping them think about what they want to do next, reflecting on everything that they can do is a great way of promoting self-esteem in recovery and helping them to see the value in themselves.

“From there we can look at the skills that they have and how they match up to the roles they want. The National Careers Service offers a Skills Healthcheck and job profiles that we can use to identify opportunities and skills gaps with the clients. I will signpost them to appropriate job and training opportunities so we can plug those gaps.

“At 5 WAYS we have already run a number of accredited courses including Health and Social Care and Mental Health Awareness. We also offer through Norton Webb Training NVQs in Maths and English up to level two which is the equivalent of a GSCE.

“We ran a Customer Service in Care course with Learndirect and three people were offered employment as a direct result of that course.

“We’ve had some people complete these courses who have never had a qualification before in their life.”

To access support through the National Careers Service at 5 Ways clients should speak to their Key Worker regarding a referral and appointment with Joy.