Julie’s transformational learning journey began when she was signposted by another training provider to East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Building Better Opportunities (BBO) programme. The programme helped her to build her confidence and skills, and progress to further learning and employment. Julie went on to support others in her community to learn and get into work.
I was feeling very alone with no confidence and I didn’t like myself. I had recently lost my job as a retail manager through health problems, and my marriage had broken up. I had lost the strong, independent woman that I used to be and felt I was on the scrap heap. I took part in numerous BBO training courses including self-esteem and confidence building, CV writing, customer service, wellbeing to work and social media. The courses gave me renewed confidence and I felt ready to focus on finding work. I progressed to the ReNu programme which helped with employability skills. I met some wonderful people and learning gave me self-belief and, most importantly, a future. I found me in the end and all the hard work paid off.
I got two temporary jobs. I was a learning ambassador promoting the benefits of adult learning to community groups, and a Wheels to Work project coordinator, helping people to get
to work, training and college. I really enjoyed sharing my own story to help others and gained invaluable work experience that I hope will pay off with my future aspirations of getting back into an office based, customer service role.
Dawn Redfern, project manager for employability projects at East Riding of Yorkshire Council said, “Julie immersed herself in the opportunities that BBO gave her, always putting herself forward to try and take control of her life and learn new skills. Her hard work, perseverance and dedication paid off and her future is looking bright.”