Jason's Story

Jason (not his real name) was referred to Groundwork West Midland’s Family Matters Programme by his local Job Centre. A lone parent of four school-aged children, he previously worked as a HGV driver and ran local community football teams, but now suffers from both physical and mental health problems.

Family Advisor Karen Robinson said, “Sometimes Jason would come into the office for a chat as he didn’t see anybody during the day until his children came home from school. The difficulty he had was finding employment around school hours, as he doesn’t have anybody else to look after his kids, and would prefer to do so himself.”

Karen set about updating his CV, helped Jason write a covering letter and started searching for jobs with him. Due to his previous experience with youth football it became apparent he would like to work with children.

“We started looking at school-based employment and registered Jason as a volunteer at his son’s school as he mentioned he’d like to become a teaching assistant”, Karen added.

After looking into local lunchtime supervisor posts, Jason got an interview.

“After getting the job, he rang me straight away with the news. A couple of days after he started his new job he came back into the office and looked a different person. He was proudly wearing the school fleece he’d been given and said he was loving it.

He has now completed his Teaching Assistant Level 2 and may go on to complete his Level 3 and is actively seeking a full time post.

“I’m so proud I was able to help Jason achieve his goals.”