Overcoming anxiety

Upon our initial meeting, the beneficiary expressed how anxious and isolated as she feels, as she has been out of Paid Employment since Covid. Struggling with her vertigo, migraines and hearing loss. Her health struggles meant she felt she was unable to commit to anything and therefore unable to progress.

During our meeting, she expressed that she was not ready to go back to paid employment but was eager to focus on Training, with the hope to eventually secure a Volunteering role.

Since joining the project, SR has maintained contact with both her Employment Advisor and Wellbeing Officer, attending regular meetings.As a first step for SR, we enrolled her on the Dealing with Anxiety on Digital College as due to her circumstances of being out of work since Covid lockdown, she has lost a lot of her confidence. The course allowed her to familiarise with some of the triggers and tips and gave her the confidence to begin to develop her interpersonal skills to what they were previously with our support.

SR enrolled on Agored’s An Introduction to British Sign Language course which is a 10 week course being held at COS once a week on a Friday for two hours at a time. During this time, she has been engaging with other Beneficiaries on a regular basis, one of whom she has exchanged contact details with to meet outside of the course which is a great positive impact on her personal social life and shows a development in her interpersonal skills.

SR began Volunteering for Sue Ryder in Rhos-on-Sea this year where she quickly became a valued member of the time, impressing the Manager. She got back into the rhythm of assisting customers with their needs, as well as helping colleagues with aspects of the role that they weren’t sure of, as she has had a lot of experience in customer facing roles.

Following her progression in her Voluntary role in Sue Ryder, SR was asked to apply for the Manager position. This had a significant positive impact on her confidence, being recognised for her hard work and given the opportunity of paid employment with just 12 weeks of starting her voluntary role. She applied for the position, we turned our focus to interview techniques ahead of her interview. The beneficiary was successful in her interview and offered the position of Store Manager.

This is an incredible achievement, significantly impacting the beneficiary’s outlook of life, her financial security and social inclusion.