Pathways

Pathways to Employment (P2E) is a unique solution to a big problem.

The problem is that many people who now have the means to employ their own staff as Personal Assistants to support them, find it difficult to find the right people to do the job. Personal Assistants for their part, find it hard to find a role that satisfies them, and they find it difficult to get the training, supervision and support they need once they have a job.

My Life Support is beginning to solve this problem, we have done so by asking two very simple questions:

• What is it that Personal Assistants need to do a good job?
• What is it that potential employers need in order to find the right people to support them?

We have designed the P2E programme to answer these questions.

The programme has a number of stages:

• Stage 1. We bring together local people who think they may want to work as personal assistants.
• Stage 2. We explain to them what is involved in the work.
• Stage 3. We ask them to apply by designing a poster, showing their unique skills and qualities.
• Stage 4. We invite them to a three-day training course, which covers values, building self-confidence, teamwork, asset based community development, communication skills and meeting potential employers.. We ask them to apply by designing a poster, showing their unique skills and qualities.
• Stage 5. We work on matching those who require staff with graduates from the course.

P2E is a hugely popular (oversubscribed!) programme. Graduates describe it as an inspiration; opening their eyes; learning to be appreciated; and as a means to gain trust, confidence and overcome fears.

We started the course in Autumn 2013, with an average of 30 participants on the each course, of which 95% on average complete the full course and 75% have been matched into work. For those not in work, they have been matched into volunteering roles, or we have worked with them to look at other employment.

The other big outcome is that potential employees are much more confident in selecting the job they want. The P2E programme was born from listening to people. It was supported and funded by Skills for Care. It is a programme which is designed to be replicated elsewhere.

Find out more

If you’re interested in taking part in our Pathways to Employment course please contact us on 01257 472 900 or email info@my-life.org.uk. We’d love to hear from you!