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Jade's success story
Jade was referred to Actes Trust's New Directions YEI by Middlesbrough Job Centre after experiencing a spell of unemployment.
For Jade, this was a difficult period in her life, as she had only recently relocated to the area and being out of work, in unfamiliar surroundings had knocked her confidence.
how we helped
After registering with New Directions, Jade was quickly supported with creating a CV and shortly after began volunteering with Actes Trust, shadowing New Directions staff to gain more insight into the world of youth work - an area that Jade had always been interested in, but had never had the opportunity to explore properly.
The more experience Jade built through volunteering, the more her confidence grew, and with this new found confidence, she applied for a role at Actes working on the Trending project. Jade was successful with her application and shortly after commencing the role, she also began working on Actes' Unclaimed Benefit Campaign.
When the funding for the Trending project came to an end, Jade decided to apply for an internal role working on One Planet Pioneers as a Project Engagement Officer. Again, Jade was successful at interview and worked on this programme for two years, engaging with young people in Middlesbrough to educate them on the principles of One Planet Living, before moving onto the New Directions - the programme that she was initially put in touch with as a job-seeker. Working on New Directions, she was confidently able to use her own life experience and newly developed skills to support young people aged 15-29 into employment, education and training.
Today, Jade is still with Actes Trust, working as an Engagement Officer on Climate Action Middlesbrough, where her primary focus is delivering climate-themed education sessions to school children across many schools within Middlesbrough.
In jade's words...
"My journey at Actes Trust demonstrates the importance of employability-related projects and volunteering. Without either, I wouldn't be in the role I am in today. When I joined Actes Trust as a participant on the New Directions programme, I was very shy, had generally low confidence and no confidence at all when it came to things like writing a CV or applying for jobs.
The New Directions programme helped me to develop skills in these areas and with this, along with the volunteering that I undertook, I saw my confidence grow enormously. Thanks to all of the experience I have built up working across a number of projects at Actes Trust, I have reached at point in my own development where I can now stand up in front of a classroom full of school children and deliver fun and impactful sessions."
