Dawn Pearce is a 31 year old mum, living in Stockton with her young son who is in his first year at Primary School
Dawn became increasingly aware of her poor functional skills, (Literacy, Numeracy and IT ability) and felt it was time to improve these further in order to; support her child as he progresses and also to improve her management of the family expenses. Due to redundancy and the raised cost of living it has been difficult for Dawn to manage the family budget. Dawn has a strong work ethic and also aspired to complete further training to improve her employability.
Dawn regretted not being committed to education in senior school and wondered where she could progress to develop her functional skills and employment training. She had heard of Five Lamps and called into their building at 32 Dovecot Street in Stockton Town Centre, to enquire on how she could register and progress.
She was referred to the Family Wise Project which seeks to help people to move into employment and is funded through the European Social Fund. It can provide support with; employability skills, debt and money management, personal and social development and work experience, including volunteering.
Dawn worked with Jane Simpson, Family Wise coach to create an action plan tailored around her strengths, aspirations and the challenges she faced. Jane identified the training Dawn required to improve her employment chances, which included establishing an employability portfolio, health and safety, food hygiene, ICT programme and Numeracy and Literacy. Jane also provided a CV writing service which included one to one support with cover letters, applications and Interview techniques.
Dawn was determined and extremely disciplined, attending her training programmes until she completed and passed with flying colours. She now has a current employability portfolio and training required to support her young son with his homework and to increase her employment progress.
Dawn said:
“I am very grateful for all the support provided by Five Lamps as I could not have done it without the encouragement and support of Jane and my tutors”
Family Wise is funded from the European Social Fund Support for Families with Multiple Problems contract. Delivered by Five Lamps across Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar & East Cleveland.