‘My Child has ASD and I Want to Work’ Programme A Great Success

Posted on by heathercette

CHANTELLE EL-SAWY
ASD WORKSHOP PROGRAMME MANAGER

Hi my name is Chantelle and i’m running the programme ‘My child has ASD and I want to work‘ with Liz Sewell to help parents find the key issues in getting back to work when you have a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The June programme was a great success and helped us understand the main issues facing parents who want to work and have children with additional needs. Childcare was top of the list as parents reported that there are not enough qualified special needs childminders and a child with ASD can have many needs that a childminder would need to cater to. This can really limit parents from working at all or working certain hours.

Parents also spoke about their children’s schools constantly calling them when their child is unsettled at school. This can happen everyday or a few times a week, which will affect that parent to secure a long term part-time or full-time job.

Studies have also shown that:

Autism also an issue that often affects your ability to earn money. Only 11% of parents with autistic children are able to work full-time, and 70% of parents say that they don’t have enough support to be able to work as much as they need to.

We are really looking forward to our next ASD sessions which will start in September.  If you think you may be interested in joining us or have any questions you can contact me at chantelle.elsawy@belinagrow.co.uk

GRoW customer Harpreet finds work with Vision Express

Posted on by heathercette

Harpeet wanted a job but had been out of the workplace for 8 years and needed help to get started.  She met an Adviser from Ealing Council who was running a job fair at her daughter’s school and they referred her to the GRoW Programme run by Liz Sewell at Belina Consulting and is funded by the European Social Fund.

Harpreet said “I had been out of a job for 8 years and I didn’t know where to start.  I had worked in retail in the past but everything had changed. Suddenly everything was online and I just didn’t know where to start.

“When I had my first meeting with Liz I didn’t really know what type of job I would be able to apply for and I thought it would be difficult to find work as I had been out of the workplace for quite some time. The GRoW Programme really helped me with my confidence at that time and helped me see that I should raise my expectations and look for work where I could learn more and progress.  Liz showed me how to apply for jobs online and explained the types of jobs that would be most suitable for me. As soon as I got home I applied for two jobs.”

The GRoW Programme held a CV Workshop that Harpreet was invited to attend but she was unable to travel and so Belina’s Senior Facilitator, Mercedes Grant, visited Harpreet at her home instead.  “Mercedes came all the way to Ealing to work with me and go through all the points on my CV. She amended parts of my cv to better suit the jobs I was interested in applying for and she gave me training on how to apply online. She really helped with my motivation and confidence too and told me to keep on trying!  It gave me the kickstart I needed to get on with finding the right job and it was great to have her there for support”.

Harpreet was soon offered a job at Primark and was over the moon “I was in Tesco when they rang me and I was so pleased, I called Liz and she gave me so much positive confidence”.  Soon afterwards Liz sent some more suitable job vacancies through to Harpreet that offered more career prospects. “Even though I was pleased to be working at Primark I just thought ‘why not?’  I applied for a job as an Optical Assistant at Vision Express and soon afterwards received a call to say I had been offered an interview.  I’ve now been working there for 2 weeks and I’m really enjoying it.  I’m working 31 hours a week and It offers lots of potential for me to grow and move forward as they are going to give me full training.  My daughter and my husband are so proud of me and my husband even says he is so pleased with the advice Liz has given me. I can call her any time for advice and it’s been a really good experience”.

Belina Consulting Director Liz Sewell said “I am delighted that we were able to help Harpreet successfully find not one job, but two jobs and that she gained so much confidence through our GRoW programme. I wish her every success in her new role and for whatever she looks to achieve in the future.