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The Employment Project – Thames Reach

Thames Reach is a London-based agency with a commitment to ending street homelessness by helping homeless and vulnerable people find decent homes, build supportive relationships, and lead fulfilling lives.

The Employment Project works with chronically excluded individuals from the boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham. Our participants are long term unemployed, face significant barriers to returning to the labour market and need sustained support to rebuild their skills and self confidence. The Project offers participants the opportunity to explore their individual path back to work in a safe environment. Participants create a tailored package of support with the following components:

• A one month structured training course running two days a week covering practical and personal skills for the workplace with the option of a residential trip to Wales.
• One year's one to one job coaching and action planning
• Access to a grant and awards scheme to help with the associated costs of returning to employment.
• The option to mix and match the above elements to according to their individual employment goals.

Contact:

Jo- Anne Carden, Project Co-ordinator
The Employment Project
183-185 Bermondsey Street
London
SE1 3UW

Tel: 0207 096 7075/ 07793455005
Email: Jo-Anne.Carden@thamesreach.org.uk

Case study

Terry engaged with one of our stakeholder partners, Southwark Reach initially in January 2006. At the time was suffering with depression and was feeling isolated in his flat after suffering a relationship breakdown. He was working sporadically but had been taking a lot of time off for depression and had been drinking and taking cannabis.

Southwark Reach helped Terry to access the benefits he was entitled to and referred him to the Employment Project to begin to re build his confidence and regain some routine in his life to lessen harmful behaviours and prepare for returning to work.

Terry initially engaged with The Employment Project back in November 2007 and was one of our first participants. Terry began the training programme but disengaged after a month choosing to try to return to work independently. Terry's coach kept in touch during the next few months and unfortunately for Terry his promised work fell through leaving Terry in danger of falling back into his depression. Terry was then encouraged by his coach to re engage with the project and see it through for a while longer. Terry now credits this consistency of contact with his progress today.

Terry recently applied for a job in his chosen field which he didn't get. Having developed some good coping strategies during his coaching sessions, didn't ‘run away’ or turn to harmful behaviours but instead accessed his coach who helped him to use the feedback he received to reflect on and develop his interview skills and create an action plan to develop the job skills he needed to succeed.

Terry is currently preparing to volunteer in his chosen field to develop his skills and has volunteered to sit on one of Thames Reach's internal interview panels in order to gain some insight into the interview process. Watch this space to see how Terry progresses……