The first time our team met Sara was at a job centre event that she attended with her sister for support. She approached us and spoke about how she suspects she had ADHD. The environment at the time was busy and quite loud, Sara rarely made eye contact and spoke with a very quiet tone of voice.

We spoke to Sara about our Youth Hub project and how as part of that we could look at Sara’s ADHD traits and how they affect her life and also how they may affect her in a work place. Sara booked in to come to see us at our office the week later. In the initial meeting Sara again was quite chatty but was still unable to hold much of a conversation, often leaning on her sister for support to help her express the point she had tried to make.

Prior to coming to us, Sara had recently ended employment in a call centre as this was not suitable for her. We spoke to Sara about other roles she had done, all in a similar type of environment. In Sara’s first session at our service she attended alone and completed some basis skills work to help build her confidence and identify skills. Sara scored quite low in several areas including: confidence, self-advocacy, health and employment. Sara was juggling many personal challenges within her family and home life at the time and was feeling very low and lacking in motivation.

Due to Sara’s sleeping pattern and normal routine, she was looking for evening work. Sara explained why she hated call centre / office work. She wanted to be in a place like a family pub, being a server. She wanted to make people smile and keep busy on her feet. Sara did initially like the idea of an apprenticeship but after thought she decided a job would be best. We helped Sara to create a CV and cover letter and Sara updated these onto an indeed account.

Sara was also then moved to temporary accommodation in a hotel. She was struggling to budget for her food shopping and due to dietary challenges we made a list of things Sara ate and did a mock food shop so she knew the costing of this. The week later Sara had a microwave and she was enjoying cooking and living independently. Sara was also now getting on the bus independently.

Sara then spent a lot of time applying for jobs and having mock interviews with our team before securing a job interview at Asda. Sara unfortunately was  unsuccessful in the interview but getting to this stage again and seeing opportunities opened up really helped boost her confidence in herself and her abilities. Sara now feels a lot more capable of looking for jobs independently and being more ready for a job interview. She has now obtained a permanent place to live and she has a support worker that helps her during the week. Although Sara is yet to obtain employment, she has come on so far and has achieved so much in her personal life and is confident that her next job is waiting for her in the near future.