35,000 people helped by Salvation Army job support service
The Fordingbridge and Salisbury centres have celebrating their success
An employability programme by The Salvation Army has helped over 35,000 people find work in the last year.
And celebrations have been held today (Monday 3rd July) in Fordingbridge and Salisbury to mark the achievement as part of Employability Day.
The charity's Employment Plus service helps people affected issues such as homelessness, mental health problems and lack of education, training or life skills.
Cara Upham is an Employment Development Coordinator at Fordingbridge Employment Plus. She explained the 'holistic' approach of the service:
"We look at everybody's individual needs, so no two people will be on the same employment path.
"We offer employment support from CV's and covering letters, we also offer training which covers IT and manual handling training, lots and lots of online courses which can be done at home or with myself if they need extra IT support.
"We also offer wellbeing and life skills, which covers a whole host of things from money management to housing support."
Continuous support available
But the support doesn't stop there, with help available once a job has been found.
And again this is focussed around the individual and their needs.
"Some just want me there as a safety net," Cara says, while others need support during the interviews. The Salvation Army team at Fordingbridge have gone into work placements and put various learning skills in place to help someone thrive in their job.
Every person is different
As Cara has already explained, it's not a 'one size fits all' approach, with each person's circumstances being different.
"You get somebody who walks through the door, they've been out of work for 12 months or more and they're lacking confidence - so we do lots of confidence building work with them," says Cara.
Work experience and voluntary work can be beneficial in this regard, with Cara even going along herself to help!
But some are more confident, needing just some guidance on putting their CV together or setting up a work placement.
"It's such a very individual process," Cara said.
Where to find help with The Salvation Army
Help is readily available from The Salvation Army across the South West.
As well as Fordingbridge and Salisbury, there are Dorset centres in Bournemouth and Boscombe, as well as in Bath and in Southampton.