Matthew was referred to our Barrow centre for careers advice by a family member who had previously had an appointment. Matthew had recently moved to the area from the Midlands for a fresh start to get away from the drug culture that he was heavily involved in.
The appointment began by discussing Matthew's background and how he had made the decision to make changes in his life. He explained that he had been introduced to Class A drugs by his mother at the age of 13 and had tried to get support with his drug addiction, which was initially successful.
He achieved GCSEs at school and went on to get an apprenticeship in Electrical Engineering. Unfortunately, he was still living at home and mixing in the same circles which led to him using drugs again resulting in the loss of his apprenticeship.
With the support of other family members, he left home and moved away from these bad influences. He engaged with a local charity who run a recovery programme, but this didn’t work out for Matthew and he relapsed. Fortunately, he had a strong support network who identified a different rehabilitation programme which he felt met his needs.
When our adviser met with Matthew, he was one month into recovery and confident that this would be long term. He said that he wanted to find a job as he wanted to keep busy and take his mind off his addiction.
His skills were discussed, and he said that he wanted a practical job and didn’t want a job sitting behind a desk. He had recently been helping a family member with a building project and thoroughly enjoyed this. His long-term goal was to be an Electrical Engineer and we discussed apprenticeship opportunities in the local area, and he was directed to the 'Find an Apprenticeship' website.
Through the discussion, Matthew recognised that he needed to take small steps to meet his long-term goal and successfully beat his addiction. He was offered the opportunity to attend the Key Programme that was linked to a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) course. He was introduced to the course tutor to help him feel comfortable and to explain the course detail along with what would be expected in terms of attendance to give him the best possible chance of achievement.
Matthew attended the programme and successfully passed the course enabling him to apply for his CSCS card. He was introduced to recruitment agencies and local employers recruiting for labourers and with his new CV was able to apply for suitable vacancies.
After only a matter of weeks, Matthew had successfully gained employment as a labourer with a local construction company working with the defence industry.
Matthew said:
“Coming to Inspira was possibly one of the best decisions I made, all the staff are really kind, really helpful and most of all understood my needs.
I really am progressing everyday towards my goals and having the life I only ever dreamt of at one point.
I cannot thank you enough.”