Towards Work case study: Mansfield CVS

Dorothea joined the Towards Work programme with Mansfield Community & Voluntary Service. At the first meeting with her Work Coach, Dorothea disclosed that she suffers with depression and also has dyslexia which worries her about going back into education, training, and employment. Her goal was to have a clear plan to become a midwife or in a similar field of work, and to gain access to training to help her move into work within the NHS and build her confidence and self-esteem. Dorothea also wanted support to improve her employability skills and accessing childcare for her one-year-old son.

Dorothea had no clear direction on how to move into employment. She had not explored the job market or explored childcare settings for her 1-year-old or how moving into paid employment may affect her financial situation. Working with her Work Coach she started by looking at local hospitals online career websites to identify what the job market was looking like to ensure any training linked to live vacancies. Dorothea’s ideal destination was to gain qualifications to become a midwife and gain employment but upon looking into career options Dorothea said she was happy to accept other roles to get into the NHS. Dorothea completed research for a childcare setting in her local area in case she needed to access them to complete training or take employment.

Dorothea had no formal qualifications to support applications to work for the NHS, so she was supported to explore online training to gain some qualifications to support job applications. She enrolled on a Level 2 Common Childrens Illnesses and was provided with a laptop to be able to complete her studies at home around her child and reduce anxieties regarding meeting new people.

Dorothea gained qualifications in Common Childrens Illnesses and found that already hold Maths and English qualifications following an application to complete a course with CT Skills.

While she completed the course, her Work Coach maintained regular contact via email and phone calls. Dorothea participated in relevant workshops to improve her CV and gain more confidence in completing online interviews via Zoom in a small group.  This tied in with being offered a job interview for a role she had applied for with the NHS to become a Community Clinic Support Worker.

Dorothea managed to secure paid employment and with support was able to enrol her son into a childcare setting which reduced Dorothea’s anxieties about returning to work as she has not worked since starting a family.