Lauren’s story – Rugby.
Lauren is a young mum, who experienced postnatal depression which had a massive impact on her ability to work.
There have been times when she was unable to leave the house.
English was not Lauren’s primary language, so when her son started nursery she decided she would begin to learn English. As Lauren was unable to leave her home for long periods of time, only taking her son to nursery and back, Lauren embarked on an online ESOL course.
This experience, meeting different people online, built her confidence so she joined Jobs22. Through Jobs22, Lauren was encouraged to join the Circles Network Life Skills programme.
Lauren’s confidence has blossomed since attending.
During week five of the course, after watching a video on interview skills and techniques and learning how to write a CV and apply for jobs, she decided to take the plunge and apply for a job in retail.
There had been a recruitment drive by one of the big retailers and Lauren decided to apply for a job there. Lauren successfully secured an interview.
As part of the recruitment process Lauren had to take her passport with her, but when she took it out she realised it had expired. Not wanting this to have a negative effect, following a discussion with her jobs coach. It was decided that her old passport along with her completed passport application would be sent off to the passport office.
Funding to cover the costs was arranged to help speed up the process for Lauren.
Lauren was offered the role!
Her offer was made on the basis that her passport and references were acceptable.
Whilst it did seem a long wait for the passport to come through, and there were times when Lauren lost faith that it would arrive and that the retailer would change their minds, the passport did arrive.
She also had good references, so Lauren started work as a retail assistant.
Though Lauren still has times where she does not want to leave the house, she is now equipped with exercises to help with her anxiety of leaving the house.
Lauren shared “I feel I now have a purpose and hope to eventually overcome my anxieties too. The support of the group, the possibility to self-develop, and the resources from the course have helped me to achieve my goal of employment.”
