Stirling Council, UK Adult Learning in Stirling, 4 Dec 2019

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From YouTube: Learning and Employability, Fair Start Scotland Case Study

Description

Louisa describing her employability journey with the Fair Start Scotland programme delivered by the Learning and Employability Service at Stirling Council.

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My name is louisa tawse.. I started with fair start last september. when I first came.

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Along and wasn't really sure what was going to be involved. I'd been given a pamphlet from my work coach and it was very much a voluntary programme,, but it was.

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Stressed to me that it wasn't like the old job clubs that were run before.. It was.

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Very much one-on-one,, so you got the individual needs,. Everything was.

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Tailored to what your requirement was. so that appealed to me, because you always.

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Think job clubs are about cvs and interview skills and that wasn't what I was.

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Struggling with at the time., it was my health and my confidence. louis, who's. My.

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Coach, made it really easy for me., so louis, and I had a few meetings and she.

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Realised through talking to me that I like doing arts and crafts,, so there was a.

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Craft class running and within about 10 minutes all the girls were, you know, coaxing me out of my shell,.

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Having a laugh with me- and I settled in really quickly and.

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Really easily into the class,, which surprised me, because I didn't think I would.

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At all. so and then it started becoming the thing I looked forward to.

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Most in the week was come along to craft class.. So, although I'm quite a crafty.

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Person I hadn't done the items that we were doing in the class,. It was book craft.. I.

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Hadn't done anything like that,, so it was fascinating,. It was really interesting,.

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And I got into it really quickly, and martine obviously noticed that I had.

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Progressed a lot quicker than the other adult learners,, so I would maybe do a.

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Little extra project, or if I was ahead, I would help the other girls. so.

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It helped my confidence greatly coming along to class,. It was just,, it was.

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Perfect timing, absolutely perfect timing.. They didn't judge me because I had.

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This disability,, because they understood when I was in pain,, there was no judgment,.

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There was complete acceptance and that's something that I didn't think I would.

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Find. yeah,, it was a bit of an aha moment. You think,, oh my god,, these people, you know.

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They really get me,, they really understand. so, yeah,. I think that was kind of the the moment for me when I realised that the.

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Help is not,. I was always about giving help, so getting help as well and being.

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Able to accept that help was, yeah, a bit of an eye opener.. I started off with my arts and crafts.

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Then lois encouraged me to go,. There was an it class running as well., so I.

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Haven't done any it since I left school in 1991, so as you can imagine, my skills were pretty outdated.

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So I started off brushing up, just at my own pace, on excel and then I.

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Picked that up quite quickly,, which I was surprised,, because not being in front of.

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A computer or really using my brain as I thought properly for a couple of years,.

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I thought I would really struggle, but I picked it up quite quickly and then.

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Realising that I could do this, it was a conversation I had with lois about, yeah,. It would.

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Be good if I could get a qualification after all this study., so she said well, you.

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Can actually study for your nat 5 in ict,, which is 'information.

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Communication technology',, which is the current high school equivalent of the.

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Standard grade in computing science that I did back in the 90s., so I'm starting my.

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Assessment for that next week., so I'm quite excited about that.. It will be good to.

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Have something up-to-date under my belt that I can use going forward for.

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Applying for jobs once I've had my surgery,, and even if I don't use it, going.

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Forward, it's always a handy thing to have. when I started. I was very.

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Depressed and I was anxious- and I couldn't even look people in the eye when I.

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Walked in a room,, I would be very closed down.. So, through my work with lois, she.

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Had arranged for me to meet with an occupational therapists through the nhs.

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I very much felt ruled by my depression and anxiety. it controlled me,. It was.

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In charge of whether I went out that day or not., it was in charge of whether I got.

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Up that day or not. so now being able to identify that have these situations and.

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These triggers, I can cope with them a lot better. after the behavioral therapy.

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I got lucky enough to get some counselling,, which was through action in mind. action in mind. Are a charity.

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Charity in stirling, who provide counselling for people with.

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Mental health conditions and that counselling absolutely changed. My life., I am now a.

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Happy person,, I'm now a confident person and although I've got my arthritis.

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And I'm not working, I'm living my best life right, now., I'm the best version of myself. I have ever been.

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