07 June 2017
A Back to Work employment programme has been helping jobseekers to learn valuable on-the-job employment skills while undertaking a number of community based projects across the Island.
The Back to Work Foundations programme helps individuals who have been out of work for a long period of time, many with significant barriers to employment. Once on the programme, they spend up to four days per week working on a variety of community based projects. The fifth day is spent with their dedicated Employment Advisor, searching for jobs, having interviews and taking part in other training activities - all designed to improve their employability and help them to become valuable employees for local businesses.
Projects undertaken to date have included refurbishments and repair projects at Highlands College, maintenance of the Railway Walk, the planting of 500 trees at St Clement, and the creation of a group therapy room and counselling suite for Silkworth Charity.
Jason Wyse, Chief Executive Officer of Silkworth Charity Group, said the work carried out at their recovery day service centre would not have been possible without the support of Back to Work’s Foundations programme.
Jason said, “We had wanted to undertake this project for some time but did not have the funding available to carry it out ourselves. Being able to just supply materials and have the labour provided by the Foundations team made it possible for us to make vital improvements.
“One of the main parts of this project was to completely redecorate a storage room into a functioning group therapy room and counselling suite. Since the completion of the project we have been able to offer additional services that would otherwise not have been possible.”
The newly decorated therapy room and counselling suite is now holding yoga and meditation classes, group therapy and private one-to-one therapy sessions to help families affected by substance abuse. The project also cosmetically improved additional communal areas, making the whole environment a lot more welcoming to the users of the service.
The Social Security Assistant Minister, Deputy Graham Truscott, said, “I am really pleased that the work undertaken by our jobseekers has enabled Silkworth to help even more men and women in Jersey affected by drug and alcohol addiction.
“Foundations is key part of our comprehensive Back to Work programme which offers many levels of skills training and work experience opportunities. It is designed to reduce dependency on benefits to help bring jobseekers closer to securing unsubsidised employment in the future.”
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