Single-minded about success

Company news

Sep 27, 2013

Nicola, a Brierley Court service user, always saw a paid job as an important factor in her recovery. The fact that she hadn’t worked for over 15 years was an issue she needed to overcome, with the help of the Brierley Court team and the many education and training opportunities available as part of our vocational goals programme and employment and education initiative.  

Focused on learning

The first step for Nicola was attending a part-time course at Manchester College, where she attained an OCN Level 1 Award in Skills for Retail. As well as giving her an insight into the world of retail, it gave Nicola the much-needed confidence to pursue work in this sector. 

She was able to put this on her CV as she continued to seek work and develop her interview techniques with help from the Brierley Court team and the disability employment adviser (DEA) at the local job centre.

Realising her goal

While she looked for work, Nicola completed a BTECH Level 2 in customer service and undertook work experience at ASDA in Manchester and a volunteering role at HMP Manchester. In March 2013, she won the Care UK Mental Health Award, Volunteer of the Year.  But she finally realised her goal of getting a paid job when she recently became Brierley Court’s service user representative. In this role she puts forward the views and opinions of the Brierley Court service users to help Care UK’s Mental Health division to continue to ensure that service users and their recovery are kept at the forefront of the division’s work. 

The great news is that Nicola has now moved on to living in the community. The extra income from her work with Care UK is vitally important to her now as she takes her place in society and develops her career.