Developing skills and confidence in the workplace

Our education, skills and work teams provide a wide range of support. Besides some great case studies about people completing work experience and securing job outcomes, our newsletter this month features some fantastic stories about enrichment activities and careers learning like visits to workplaces that help people we support develop skills and confidence.

Learners show True Community spirit in Kingston

This year within our South West London Supported Internship programme, we have developed a project called True Community. This has involved learners supporting the United Reformed Church in Kingston where our programme has its classroom.

The project has involved learners in supporting the church's fundraising efforts in the run up to Christmas. They have decorated small crosses for welcoming packs, helped to design promotional materials, and made gingerbread cookies to be sold in the church cafe and wrapped presents to be sold in the shop. As well as benefitting the church and local people, the True Community project has helped learners develop new skills, with Mencap tutors embedding English and maths within activities to support learning.

Some learners have also been gaining work experience within the church, using their professional kitchen to prepare free meals for local vulnerable people.

We are proud to be supporting the United Reformed Church and look forward to developing our partnership further, with lots more activities planned for 2024!

Workplace visits

Learners on our Supported Internship in central London recently benefitted from an eye-opening visit to the new White City Place development. The old BBC headquarters have been transformed into a thriving tech and creative hub. The redevelopment has been overseen by Mencap’s partner, Stanhope PLC , while the property is managed by 第一太平戴维斯 whose team kindly gave our learners a tour.

They showed learners the wonderful new office spaces and shared with them information about the structure of their organisation and how they work with Stanhope. They discussed their employment journey and what their roles involve. They also spoke about jobs currently available at Savills which included roles in gardening, administration, cleaning, engineering, IT and catering. There are also 40 different companies currently occupying White City Place and learners were advised that a lot of these also have work experience and job opportunities.

Savills staff were really motivating and encouraged learners to take opportunities that come along to help them succeed on their employment journey.

Another of our partners in London, 谷歌 , also recently opened up their office to Mencap’s learners for a tour and a chance to meet with members of their team. One of our learners has also recently undergone a work placement in the security team at the Google offices and we are looking forward to developing this exciting partnership further.

A trip to the museum

It’s not just workplaces we get to visit. As part of the enrichment activities we offer through our supported internship in Worcester, learners were recently able to take in the exhibits at the Worcester History Museum.

The group included some keen history buffs who leapt at the opportunity to try on some historical costumes and turned the table on their Mencap tutors and skills coaches by acting as their tour guides and telling them lots of interesting facts.

The group learnt about Worcester’s military history, as well as local business Lee and Perrins and their famous Worcestershire sauce! There was also some fabulous art from the 1980s, as well as a lot of Banksy artworks which the group really admired.

Besides being a fun day out, the trip provided a great learning opportunity and a chance for learners to develop their friendships and confidence.

People with a learning disability recognised at awards ceremony

Learners from Mencap’s London supported internships and people who have been supported by our Barnet supported employment service were celebrated earlier this month at a ceremony hosted by the Mitie Foundation at The Shard to mark their ten-year anniversary.

Mencap partners with the Mitie Foundation to deliver the Ready 2 Work Enable programme which has supported a number of people with learning disabilities into work. At the event, former Mencap supported internship learners Elvin, Leah, and George who have secured jobs with Mitie, featured in a film celebrating the success of the programme. Leah was also part of a panel, alongside Shahid who had been supported to participate in the programme by our Barnet supported employment service. They both answered questions about their experiences and how it felt to have a job with Mitie.

At the end of the event, there was an awards ceremony and Shahid won Best Ready 2 Work Candidate 2023. Shahid was cheered on as he collected the award by his Mencap caseworker, Zeeshan, and by his mum, Yasmin, who said: “I am truly overjoyed to see Shahid receive such a prestigious award and it’s all down to Mencap for supporting him so much and introducing him to Mitie.”

Giving students a head start on their career journey

Mencap’s Head Start is delivered to pupils in special schools to provide them with careers learning and exposure to the world of work to ensure they are ready to progress into work or work-based study programmes like supported internships, once they leave school.

We are currently delivering the Head Start programme at Swiss Cottage school in Camden, where we have worked with Mido, a young man with autism who faces barriers around communication and understanding complex information.

Despite these hurdles, Mido’s has continuously pushed himself, showing exceptional willingness to embrace new challenges and great enthusiasm.

With support from his Mencap caseworker, Mido has participated in a long-term supported volunteering scheme at London Zoo and in a week-long work experience placement at Kentish Town Farm. His duties included mucking out the animal pens, cleaning feed bowls, sweeping and tidying the farm and paths for visitors, and herding the animals along the paths.

To support Mido to understand and learn these tasks, we ensured information and instructions were communicated in an accessible way through short communications that use simple, clear language.

But central to Mido’s success in his placements has been his enthusiasm and resilience. Once he was comfortable in the environment, he took to encouraging his peers who were also completing work experience. He would shout the names of staff and friends to check they were ok and would remind the friend he was paired with to complete certain tasks. Staff at Kentish Town Farm picked up on this enthusiasm and fed back about the project: “Thank you so much, we loved working with you and the students, and we hope to work with you again in the future"

New service in Sutton

In December, Mencap also took over the running of the Supported Employment Service in Sutton that is commissioned by Sutton Borough Council.

We are delighted to welcome the Sutton Supported Employment team to Mencap who will continue to provide one-to-one and group support to people aged 18+ with learning or physical disabilities and mental health conditions to help them find work.

We held a celebratory welcome event at our premises to introduce Mencap’s plans for the service and to reflect on recent achievements made by the team and people supported in the service. This included Diyown who the team recently supported to secure a paid job in a role at Merton council. Diyown was supported to attend interviews and to learn from these when he was initially turned down for roles. They also helped him to access therapy to overcome his anxiety around attending group interviews and assessment days.

We heard about many more stories like these at the event which was well attended and we were pleased to discuss our plans with people in the service and local stakeholders over some festive refreshments. We look forward to working with the team in Sutton to deliver more fantastic outcomes for the people in the service.

If you are looking for help to find work or an employer wanting to make a difference, you can find more information about our programmes and useful resources on our website.