Ella

Ella is twenty-one years old and had been NEET for 2 years before finding the Prince’s Trust Team Programme in May 2023.  Ella suffered from seizures (fortunately, she hasn’t had one in a few months), has short term memory loss and struggles with literacy. She had been applying for jobs/apprenticeships but had not been successful and needed support in writing applications due to challenges with literacy.

Ella was referred to me by Adviza’s Amy Elding, who is the team leader for the Prince’s Trust Team programme. Team gave Ella a lot more confidence than she started with, but when she completed the programme, she needed more one-to-one support to find work.

One of the characteristics that I really admired about Ella when I first started working with her was her dedication and focus on achieving her goals despite her learning difficulties.

During our initial session, Ella and I established two areas that she needed the most help on: 1) being okay with asking for help and 2) making herself okay with unfamiliar situations.  We needed to work on Ella not giving up so easily when things go wrong.  I spoke to Ella about using herself as a crutch instead of her family. One of the characteristics that I really admired about Ella when I first started working with her was her dedication and focus on achieving her goals despite her learning difficulties.

For example, Ella had never taken the bus on her own as she was nervous doing so. But through the Prince’s Trust, she agreed to use their mentor who helped her to navigate her fears of public transportation. Now, she not only takes the bus but also the train, which has given her the gift of independence.

Another example of how Ella has progressed in gaining more independence is her dedication to do everything it takes to find the work she loves. Ella loves health and social care and especially care homes, and wanted to get into the sector through school or work experience. So I took her to a job fair where she met a few people in the sector, and we worked on her networking skills as well as how to reach out to employers for work experience. We managed to secure her a week of work experience at a care home near her home.

It was such a breakthrough to see that she found something that she cares about so passionately, so we drove right into looking for apprenticeships and the job application process.

Knowing that Ella needed support through the challenges of the first few days in a new environment, I asked her to call me after her first day of work experience, and it was so great to hear that she was delighted with it. After a week she felt it was what she wanted to do.  It was such a breakthrough to see that she found something that she cares about so passionately, so we drove right into looking for apprenticeships and the job application process.  Given her literacy challenges we knew the application process wasn’t going to be easy for Ella, but I broke down the application into sections for Ella to complete and she did a brilliant job with it. In addition to us looking for work, Ella’s family was putting feelers out to their friends and family in case anyone knew about jobs in the field. Ella and I did a lot of interview preparation and built her CV, as well as a list of strengths and areas for improvement.

All of Ella’s hard work paid off as two weeks ago she interviewed for a Care Home Assistant Apprenticeship near her home. She is now employed there four days a week. She is adjusting to working for the first time and is doing a brilliant job.  I am so incredibly proud of Ella as she has come across many challenges along her journey. She will continue to, but she is always ready to keep working hard at achieving her dream of being an independent and confident woman.

 

19th December 2023

 

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