Regional SEN Transition to Employment Project Newsletter
Newsletter Designed by Luke Gerrard
December 2012 In this issue Introduction
Luke Gerrard project participant shows off his work for the first time
Real Opportunities Residential 2012
A young person from Methyr tells us about her experience at a 2 day stay at the Real Opportunities residential.
Promoting the project in Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire organise an even for employers in the hope to secure their future of the project in the Carmarthenshire area
Training & Events A list of upcoming training and events
I am Luke Gerrard I am 17 years old and was born on the 11th September 1995. I am from a small town called Glynneath which is located not far from Neath and which is a fun town to live in. I have been on the Real Opportunities project since the summer this year which has helped me with the transition from school to college. I have had support from the Real Opportunities hub team in Neath, who have helped me get used to knowing my way around college and getting used to college life. I have worked with Yvonne, the Transition Key Worker and PCP Coordinator who has helped me get a bus pass for college.
For a second work experience with Elite I went to the Cardiff Office of Learning Disability Wales for a training day in graphics design. I am now continuing my work experience in the Neath Branch of Learning Disability Wales. I have been designing a newsletters using my own design which has been proving fun and During the summer I received support it keeps me from getting distracted. from Elite Supported Employment Agency who have helped me gain My current project is to design this work experience, I got to practise month’s newsletter and I’m training to duties carried out in a real job and use Adobe InDesign 3 which is a fun it’s proving quite helpful searching thing to use. Training in adobe InDesign 3 really fun and I really enjoy for a real job. it. I have been working in Waggs Dog Groomers over the summer which means I have Luke Gerrard been working with dogs. I Project Participant got involved in duties such as grooming them, washing them and drying them. I really enjoyed working at Waggs and meeting new dogs and overall it was fun.
Opportunities for Young People Hannahleigh from Merthyr writes about her experience at the Real Opportunities young person’s residential this year and Luke Butcher, a Peer Mentor from Caerphilly discusses his involvement with the project. My name is Hannaleigh and I attended the Real Opportunities residential in October 2012. The residential was at Goytre Valley Park, in Neath Port Talbot.
found some sticky labels and wrote on them “Hug me” and stuck them on Karyn’s back!! I had fun and I enjoyed the gorge walking the most and making new friends. I didn’t realise Jemma lived so close to me and we have even met up since the residential and we chat on facebook every day.
We took part in an activity where you needed to tell everyone in your group your name and what you like to do. I said Hannaleigh Morris and I like children and hope when I leave school and college to have a job in a nursery or crèche. We had to take part in a feedback session to say if we liked the project and what we had done with the project. Tropical Inc bought some different reptile animals in I did not want to hold them but I stroked the skunk. Ben never liked them and when the man put something by him he moved quickly. I also enjoyed the trampoline – it was good fun. We did some Gorge walking, which is walking in rivers, swimming in the rivers and climbing up water falls. It was hard work.
Hi, I’m Luke Butcher and I’m a Peer Mentor for the Caerphilly hub. Having grown up with my grandparents being carers for adults with learning disabilities and having brother Luke, a Peer Mentor from with learning Caerphilly disabilities; it is second nature for me to treat those in my life with additional needs as equals to myself. I was first presented with the opportunity to train as a peer mentor three years ago through my Comprehensive School, but it wasn’t until I left school that I really got involved with the Real Opportunities Project. Within the Project I was able to use the skills that I had gained through the peer mentor training to support young people with additional needs.
It was funny because we were supposed to have a photograph of everyone together and Karyn, Jemma and I got caught drinking hot chocolate instead. I met Gemma through the project because she does not go to the same school as me. We got loads of people to sign our photograph so we remember each other. In our introduction meeting we were linked with another hub Torfaen and their staff member James. We asked what people liked to do and then wrote them on a card. We
Assisting participants on activities within the project has given me perspective on how I take things for granted, such as my ability to carry out simple tasks, and has also helped me understand that the participants who are the same age as me want the exact same things out of life as I do, except they need a little extra support to do it.
Hannaleigh and Gemma geting ready for the disco
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Being a peer mentor isn’t all hard work as the majority of the time has been more rewarding than anything else. Enabling another person to have a go at something that wouldn’t be possible without your support makes volunteering with the
project worthwhile! Within the project I do get to have some of my own fun. I have been able to participate in activities that I would never have considered doing before and I have completely enjoyed it. This summer alone I participated in activities such as rock climbing, gorge walking, camp craft and I was lucky enough to have been invited to a Peer Mentor Fun Day that Learning Disability Wales had run. The Fun Day was great, I was able to meet fellow peer mentors from outside of the Caerphilly hub and we were able to share past experience with each other. We also had another chance to go gorge walking, although this wasn’t the greatest idea at the end of October, but we still managed to have a day of laughs.
She is completely at ease in the company of each member of the team, which has been a key factor in helping her to join in the activities organised. Before the team’s involvement, Becky was unwilling to participate in anything outside of school, and approached everything new with severe apprehension and often refusal. She now looks forward to many of the events the team organises, and has attended several outings with the Pop Explodes Youth Club. This we feel is a direct result of the essential support that has been provided. The focus on life skills which included travel training and having to prepare meals has seen her grow in confidence. It has made us realise that she is capable of achieving more than we had given her credit for.
Looking to the future, I am ultimately undecided on my career path but having been employed as a Peer Mentor with Elite Supported Employment Agency, in which I assist participants on work placements, I am sure that my future will involve some sort of youth work or a job with involves working with those who have learning difficulties.
We feel that Becky’s transition to college, whilst not without problems, is much further advanced than it would have been without the support of Real Opportunities, and we are very grateful for that. The whole team are committed to their work and have been extremely helpful from the beginning. We hope that financials support will continue for this project.
Promoting the project in Carmarthenshire
As a parent of a Special Needs child who has just turned 17 and is getting towards the end of her school life it is so very important to maximise the remaining time that Sophie has left. At the start of the last academic year the school Queen Elizabeth High, had a number of initiatives that they were looking at introducing. One of these was to bring in the Real Opportunities team. This we can honestly say has been the best decision the school could have made. The team have brought a breath of fresh air to the unit. By introducing things like travel training, cooking (including planning meals and shopping), arranging activities out of school and in school holidays, some even tailored to individual needs as demonstrated by giving Sophie the opportunity to do work experience with horses at the Dragonfly Riding Stables, this ultimately led in Sophie taking it further RDA achieving her RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association) pony club badge.
The Carmarthenshire hub team have been busy organising an event for employers within the Carmarthenshire area to promote the Real Opportunities project and to encourage local businesses to take part in the work experience programmes. The event will be held in February next year with details and invites being released shortly. The aim of the event will be to engage local businesses with the project and to showcase the employability and abilities of young people with a learning disability. The event will include information stands highlighting the support available to employers who wish to take on and employee with additional needs and the hub team in Carmarthenshire along with Mencap will be showcasing some of their success stories to give an example of how the project has worked for employers in the past.
Although the whole team are great in what they are doing, 3 people stand out – Claire has given us both fantastic support and help, by guiding us through some of the most complicated non-user friendly processes, which has resulted in us being able to secure Sophie’s financial future. She is always on the end of a telephone if you have any issues and is great at listening to our woes on the bad days. Amy and Derek have given Sophie great support in overcoming physical challenges and applying experiences in out of school.
It is hoped that this event will help sustain the project within the Carmarthenshire area beyond the current funding timescale. The Carmarthenshire team has had a lot of success in supporting young people through transition, below are two letters from two sets of parents who hope to see the project continuing in the future!
Thank you very much for all of your help and support we do appreciate it
As a family, we are extremely grateful for the help and support provided by the Real Opportunities team. This is the first time we have felt that we are not alone in dealing with the problems that Becky continually faces.
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Training & Events
To book onto any of the following training events or seminars contact the information and training team at realopportunities@ learningdisabilitywales.org.uk or on 01639 635650 for a booking form. For further information regarding the events listed please contact Hannah at Hannah.cox@learningdisabilitywales.org.uk. Planning for the Future Network Date: 15th January 2013 Time: 10:00am – 1:00pm Venue: Forge Fach Community Resource Centre For: PCP/Family Liaison and Independent Living Skills. Drugs Awareness Masterclass Date: 17th January 2013 Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm Venue: Swansea Drugs Project For: All Real Opportunities Staff (spaces limited) Introduction to PCP Date: 24th January 2013 Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm Venue: Lolfa Cynin, St Clears For: Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Introduction to PCP Date: 21st February 2013 Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm Venue: Central South Consortium (Formerly ESIS) For: Caerphilly, RCT and Torfaen. Employment Network Date: 22nd February 2013 Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm Venue: Forge Fach Community Resource Centre For: Transition Workers and Supported Employment agencies
To get your story in the newsletter, or for more information about the project or any of the stories in this newsletter contact Laura on 01639 635650 or at laura.griffiths@learningdisabilitywales.org.uk
Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year 4