Case Studies – People in the community
E AHMED
This lady has been out of work for the last 6 years and wants to go back into work but did not know where to start. I met her during a visit at a church where we were delivering welfare benefit sessions. She has a 2 year old daughter for whom she has not applied for child benefit. We advised her she is entitled to child benefit and should apply and gave her the information to do so. The following week I followed up and invited her to the coffee morning at the centre. She regularly started attending the coffee morning and even started attending the exercise classes. As she became comfortable, we started helping her finding jobs and supported her with filling application forms. I gave her the confidence to attend a course as a result she gained a business admin and a mental health qualification. I referred her to other organisations and also arranged Gentoo and the police service to give a talk on recruitment in order for the whole coffee morning group to benefit as a whole. She also attended the NHS recruitment fair which I was acting as an ambassador. Through all the support and the effort we put in the lady she eventually went for an interview and got a job a receptionist for a GP practice. We helped her all the way through her journey.
S ROKIB
A student in her 30s with 2 children studying psychology was lacking confidence and found it difficult to get a voluntary position in the area of her study. She was attending the coffee morning sessions. I helped her to create a CV and build her confidence. I recognised her skills and helped her to realise them too. She started volunteering with the centre which helped her a great deal in her studies and to build confidence. Through volunteering in different projects at the centre she gained experience in physical and mental wellbeing. This helped her at university as she delivered a presentation relating to the project and received a distinction. She is currently on her final year and desperately needed a placement in a clinical setting shadowing a doctor or a consultant. She sent out 50 applications and unfortunately did not hear from anyone. I advised her to volunteer in our elderly women’s group as a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist / Senior lecturer attends the group on a monthly basis to deliver sessions to the ladies. Through the sessions she was given the opportunity to meet the consultant, show her skills and eventually get a voluntary position with the consultant. She now accompanies him to his visits gaining a lot of experience. Her feedback is that if it was not for the centre she would not have got all the opportunities and the experience that she has received. She would have long quit her course due to lack of confidence.