How our Community Employment Advisors helped David get back on track

Our Community Employment Advisors can have a huge impact by helping people back into work or supporting them to explore training or a new career.

The team offers support throughout an employment journey, and we love to hear from people whose lives have been changed as a result. David first contacted the Community Employment team as a self-referral back in April 2023.

He had been suffering from mental health issues after his marriage broke down, he suffered bereavements and lost his job, all within a short space of time. He contacted the team at one of the lowest points in his life and says that the help and support he received put him on a whole new path.

David said: “When I first came to the service I was going through a really difficult time. Previously I’d been married, had a cracking job, I had everything you could want in life. That all got turned upside down quickly.

“I used to work really long hours at a high stress job where I’d be constantly on-call and this led to arguments at home. My wife asked me to move out, I had no place to go, I ended up sleeping in the Travelodge for a while.

“Around that time, I lost my two sisters and my brother, I was isolated from the rest of my family and my dog wasn’t well at that time either. Everything was just falling apart.

“Obviously this had a massive impact on my mental health and as I found things harder and harder, I also lost my job. My depression and anxiety reached a point where I didn’t leave the house, I was struggling to look after myself, everything had just become too much.

“I was sent on nine weeks of counselling to try and help me process everything that had happened. I remember there was a leaflet that came through the door around that time that had a bit of information about the Community Employment Advisors on it.

“I just knew at that point that I needed to do something to get myself back on track. I’d had enough stress and didn’t want to work in warehouses or factories anymore and I’d done some driving in the past, so I wanted to explore that.”

David’s son is an HGV driver, so he had a real understanding of what the job entails and felt he would be well suited to this role. The barrier was the cost of the training, which was around £3,000.

David said: “I still wasn’t confident about leaving the house, so I arranged to speak to Kerry, one of the Community Employment Advisors, over the phone the first couple of times. We spoke about a few things, and I told her I wanted to work as an HGV driver but couldn’t afford the training and she said she thought she could help me with that.

“The next time we met was in person in a library, Kerry told me she’d found some funding she could help me apply for and from then on that was my focus. With the two grants and with Kerry’s support I just knew I had to do it, no matter how hard the training was.”

Kerry suggested that David could apply for WDH’s Foundation Grant and apply for matched funding from the Thomas Wall Trust. The Thomas Wall Trust helps people who want to break through barriers in their lives by pursuing technical or skill-based training which will improve their prospects of finding paid work.

The Foundation Grant is open to anyone aged over 16 who lives in a WDH home. The non-repayable grant of up to £1,500 can be used to pay for training, course equipment, fund childcare while you study or a bus pass to get to college.

In November 2023, David was successful in being awarded a Foundation Grant and also received £1,500 funding from Thomas Wall Trust. David wasted no time and booked himself onto a training course at L&T Transport in Kinsley.

David said: “I booked on to the course with L&T straight away, it wasn’t easy at all, for the theory there was something like 925 possible questions. But this was it now, I felt like I had to do it just to make sure that I didn’t let anyone down.

“In the end I did it all, I’m not going to pretend it was easy, but I went from struggling to get out of the house to being a qualified Class 1 driver. There aren’t many people who can make the jump straight to Class 1 but with the support and funding I managed it.

“It has completely changed my life, looking back and thinking about where I was to now, working my way up to getting enough experience to be self-employed, everything has changed. It is good too; I get to spend time with my grandson while I work part-time.

“I’d missed out on two years of his life and I’m just glad to be back to a place where I can be part of it now. I just want anyone out there who might be in a position like I was to know they can make a change.

“Just reaching out and having those first phone calls with Kerry put me on a different path. Things could have gone differently but I’m in a good place now and you can be too.”

Kerry is continuing support David while he works towards his goal of becoming self-employed.

If you need support with getting a new job, or exploring training that could boost your skills, our Community Employment Advisors could help.

Our Foundation Grant is currently open for applications. Find out more.