Real training for real jobs
The Real Training Equals Real Jobs Project aimed to find real jobs for people with learning disabilities or mental health needs in the service and leisure sector.
The project built on Social Inclusion 2000 and was funded by a Section 64 grant from the Department of Health. This work helped inform what would become our highly successful Trafford employment services and the creation of other innovative projects.
Real Training Equals Real Jobs supported people with learning disabilities and mental health needs to move towards employment by:
- Equipping them with recognised qualifications and work skills training that respond to employers' requirements
- Building partnerships with key employers in the sector to make jobs more accessible to employees with disabilities
- Working with established agencies and supported employment initiatives to fill vacancies.
We took a new approach to helping people with disabilities or mental health needs to find work. The project was able to clearly identify the barriers excluding them from working in the sector in the first place. This meant that we could then identify ways to overcome these barriers and develop an approach which other supported employment services and local government can adopt.
Most importantly, the project didn't just run training courses, but also invited employers' cooperation to support people into work.
The learning from this project helped us to develop our activities of our Trafford-based services, in the form of supported employment, training and social enterprise. We are looking for further funding to develop new services, building on the success of these.
It has also helped us to develop another project working to help people with learning disabilities create digital portfolios to help them find work. We are also looking for funding to do this.
Find out more about Trafford-based UR Consultants and UR Sorted
For more information about our digital portfolio project please email Venetia.Simonds@unitedresponse.org.uk