Michael’s Story

Michael has been attending day care centre at Curriers Close day opportunities for a number of years and he was involved in the packing enterprise.
Since April Michael has been referred to the Herons Café and attends the training and work experience course for 2 days a week. Being part of the team at Herons and gaining experience in a real work environment has given Michael a lot more independence and new found confidence in his ability. He is learning new skills which will help him to find a job. Michael now says: ‘When I finish my training at the Café I will be able to earn money’

Helen’s Story

Helen’s name appeared on a list of people that, in the staff team’s opinion, had the skills to travel more independently and access work training.
It was decided that we would have a meeting with Helen and her family to discuss the reasons for promoting independence around travelling in order for Helen to access employment training.

Helen’s Parents shared concerns around Helen travelling independently. They did however recognise that Helen wanted to be more independent and did not want to hold her back. They agreed to Helen going on a training programme with Routeforward in order to test out her travelling ability.

Helens enthusiasm and sheer determination to prove that she was able to travel independently and make choices for herself enabled her to pass the course and get signed off as an independent traveller. Safeguards like a mobile phone and a Travel Haven card were given to Helen but she rarely needed to use these and became an inspiration to other people with Learning Disabilities who were considering independent travel arrangements.

Helen joined the staff of the social enterprise at Coombe Park and serves customers of the café. Helen is able to use the till and is obviously proud of what she has achieved Helen regularly takes part in direct training to help people to understand what its like for someone with a learning disability and what is expected from staff when they work with people with learning disabilities. Her confidence has grown enormously with her independent skill..

Helen has done remarkably well with developing her independent skills and this in turn has enabled her to find the confidence in asking the question about her next steps in order to have more autonomy. At some point she will want to live on her own or she may meet someone and want to live with them. Helen will want to capitalise on her experiences working at Herons Café. Helen is ready to be employed by WorkForward. She would like to become one of the trainers at the Herons Cafe who enables others to learn catering skills and develop confidence to work in customer facing roles.

As Helen develops so the doors open up for her to have the life that she only dreamt about previously. Her parents never stop worrying about her but recognise that she wants to live her own life in her own way. Helen is realising that there is nothing she can’t do if she puts her mind to it and gets the support from those around her who wish her all the success in the future.