Engage to Change

29 August 2018

Engage to Change

29 August 2018

Hand shake

 

We’re delighted to welcome Kyle Davies to our team following his Engage to Change placement with us.

We were very keen to become involved in the Engage to Change scheme which is currently running across the whole of Wales to support young people aged 16-25 with a learning disability and/or autism into paid work placements lasting 6-12 months.

Kyle Davies from Burry Port began a six month placement with us in February this year. Elaine Collins, our PR & Marketing Manager and Kyle’s placement supervisor, explained “the process of setting up a placement was really straightforward – the staff at Engage to Change were great to work with and really took great care to match up the role we were offering with the right person. The ongoing support they have offered Kyle and myself has been fantastic”.

During his placement Kyle has worked with our marketing and fundraising teams, helping to produce newsletters and articles for the website, carrying out events research and working on the summer raffle scheme. Kyle settled in so well and made such a contribution that we were delighted to be able to offer him a paid role at the end of his placement.

Owen Williams, Kyle’s job coach from Engage to Change said “from day one Cerebra have been extremely positive and supportive towards Engage to Change and were keen to offer an employment opportunity to one of our clients. After a careful job matching process Kyle was placed with Cerebra as an Admin Assistant and has received an excellent level of mentoring, support and guidance from Elaine and other staff at Cerebra, which has enabled him to significantly increase his self-confidence and communication skills and become a valued member of the team. After completing a successful 6 month paid work placement Kyle has now been offered paid employment at Cerebra which he was very happy about! I would just like to thank Cerebra for the ongoing support and commitment to both Kyle and the Engage to Change Project as a whole”

Elaine said “Kyle hasn’t looked back since he joined us and we’ve seen his confidence increase every week. He’s very much part of the team and we’re delighted that he’s staying on with us”.

It’s been a great experience for Kyle too. He told us:

“I’ve really enjoyed working at Cerebra over the 6 months of my placement. It’s been an amazing experience working on projects for the different departments. Everyone from Cerebra and my job coaches Owen and Steve from Engage to Change have been very nice and always able to help if I had any questions. As my placement came to an end I was ecstatic to be given the news that I would be kept on as a part time member of staff. Thank you for the opportunity and I am eager to make a positive contribution to the charity”.

 

The experience has been such a positive one for us that we have offered a second placement under the scheme.

The Engage to Change project aims to help over 1000 young people achieve their full potential by supporting them to gain experience in the workplace and develop transferable skills through a person-centred approach. To do this they are working with 800 employers over five years, offering one-to-one job coaching and specialist employment support to both young person and employer. This project is made possible through funding from the Big Lottery Fund in partnership with Welsh Government.

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