Career Development And Change Advice Blog » social exclusion

Support For Autism Sufferers

Harry Freedman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:05:15 +0000

Plans have just been published to assist sufferers from autism to find work more easily. This is an overdue and welcome announcement from government which accepts that autism sufferers have been excluded from the workplace for far too long.

Autism, and its related condition Asperger’s syndrome are characterised by an inability on the part of the sufferer to relate to, and communicate with others. They come across as severely withdrawn and in less enlightened times were assumed to be stupid. In fact many autism victims are highly intelligent, it is just that they cannot communicate the outcomes of their thought processes effectively. Mark Haddon’s best selling novel, The Curious Tale of The Dog In The Night-Time gives a poignant and powerful account of what it is like to be autistic.

But despite their communication difficulties there are many work related tasks at which autistic people excel. They can be highly logical, focused on detail and extremely thorough in their performance. This makes them ideal for computer or numerate work. A Danish company, Specialisterne employs over forty people with autism, testing software and working on other specialist technical tasks.

The proposals to help autism sufferers are just another step in the gradual opening up of the workplace to excluded groups. Not all have health problems. Some have learning difficulties, others have had difficult ,home lives and are socially excluded. There is much more work to be done in bringing excluded groups in from the cold. But today’s announcement is a welcome step.

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Helping The Long term Unemployed Into Work

Harry Freedman — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:24:22 +0000

The government yesterday announced measures to tackle unemployment and increase the responsibility of those on benefits to return to work. Benefit sanctions will be introduced for those who who refuse to attend Job Centres. But will these measures work? Indeed, do Job centres work? Or is the whole approach to the long term unemployed, and other socially excluded groups, misplaced and bound to fail?

Over the past couple of years Career Energy has been running pilot projects with ex-offenders and long term unemployed, to help them into jobs. We have been doing things very differently from the conventional, state-funded approaches, and getting outstanding results.

At the core of our approach is the recognition that everyone, even the most intransigent offender, has a unique identity and skill set. They may be wholly unaware of this but which, with the right support, their unique abilities can be identified and developed. At the same time most people would like to have a comfortable lifestyle and money in their pocket, even if they don’t want a conventional job.

The problems that most socially excluded groups face stem from poor education, low self esteem, extreme poverty or disability or sickness. But by engaging with people on a one to one basis we help them to find ways to overcome the obstacles, recognise what they are capable of, set goals for themselves and start to make changes in their life. What we do, works.

Of course governments have to deal with mass populations and is is very easy to adopt one-size-fits-all solutions. But the problems of the long term unemployed have never been solved and the latest initiative is almost certainly bound to end in failure. It is time for a more personalised approach, to take Job Centres out of the picture and introduce new services delivered by smaller, flexible, providers like Career Energy. It will cost more, but the benefits to the economy will far exceed the costs.

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Choices and Consequences: Career Planning Programme Introduced for Prolific Offenders in Hertfordshire

David Randall — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:23:17 +0000

In ‘Helping the Socially Excluded Back Into Work’ (23 Nov 08), Harry has commented that our prison work in London sets new standards. It certainly does. Prisoners who initially join the programme intent only on getting a job soon learn to trust their consultant and believe that the partnership between the two of them can deliver much more than just a job – a new working life with a positive direction of travel and an overarching career strategy.

Once a person gets into the habit of planning their career, they start to shake themselves free of their immediate circumstances. They are no longer so dependent upon their next pay cheque, but start to believe that they have their own skills and personal qualities that can survive set backs at work, or even the involuntary loss of a job.

Prison may offer training opportunities and preparation for work programmes but life on the outside, in comparison, is much more fickle, and an offender is constantly under threat from bad influences, pressures and temptations which can draw them back into offending behaviour.

Hertfordshire Courts, Police and Probation Services are therefore taking a risk in offering preparation for work programmes for prolific offenders serving the majority of their sentence in the community. Under the Choices and Consequences Programme, Career Energy is partnering with other experts to deliver a programme of career planning and job search targeted at prolific offenders who genuinely want to work. But these are people who, but for their commitment to reform, would now be serving lengthy prison sentences for multiple property crimes, often to feed an all-consuming drug habit. The road to recovery for many will be long, but without a proper process of self-discovery and experienced coaching, the chances of a person completing their journey into fulfilling work and then holding down that job, are slim. Congratulations therefore, to the Hertfordshire authorities, for making the brave decision to invest in career planning for these people, to keep them in work, and to make their community a safer place.

The first cohort of seven Choices and Consequences clients enters the career planning phase in January 2009. We will post regular updates on how the programme develops.

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Helping the Socially Excluded Back Into Work

Harry Freedman — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:23:38 +0000

One of the lesser known activities that Career Energy undertakes, but which is growing rapidly, is our work in helping those who are excluded from society to find jobs and improve their prospects. The causes of social exclusion are many – it may be as a result of grinding povery, long term sickness, imprisonment or general disadvantage. But the solutions for helping someone who is excluded from the workplace to enter it are just the same as they are for someone who has worked all their life.

At Career Energy we firmly believe that everyone has an intrinsic worth and a unique set of skills. It is just that some people have never had the opportunity, support, self confidence, motivation or education to recognise their talents. But in practice there is no difference between helping, say, an unhappy ex-banker to take a holistic look at herself and identify her transferable skills, so that she can get a job in a career she values more, and a offender with a string of convictions for deception. Deception is just as much a skill as banking! And if we can help them take the persuasion aspect of deception, and encourage them to jettison the dishonest part, why there is every possibility that they can pick up a sales job almost anywhere.

Over the past few months Career Energy has been running a major resettlement project in a major London prison, using our holistic principles to asist offenders to get jobs. And we have been getting outstanding results. In fact, we would go so far to say that we are breaking the mould in what we are doing, and setting new standards. Keep an eye on this blog to find out more.

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