Journey2Jobs maps the road to employment

Helm Housing Association and Bryson FutureSkills this morning launched Journey2Jobs - a work and training scheme which aims to support the return of long term unemployed young people to the workplace. The scheme is one of the first of its kind in Northern Ireland between a housing association and a skills training provider. 

Staff from both organisations issued a call for all those who want to enhance their skills, avail of employability training and gain relevant work experience to attend the six information evenings which take place across Belfast in the coming weeks.A series of training workshops over thirteen weeks will provide career coaching and will lead to an accredited Employability Skills qualification upon successful completion. Those who take part in the programme will receive impartial careers advice and guidance, an in-depth assessment, a personal training plan and work mentor. Helm Housing Association will then provide a number of ten-week paid work placements for successful candidates on completion of the training. On the job experience will include areas such as customer service, construction, maintenance and administration and others.Speaking at the launch, Sheila Taylor, Neighbourhood Manager at Helm Housing said: The difficulty in accessing training and work experience can be a barrier for many people who are long term unemployed and who wish to return to the jobs market. Journey2Jobs has been designed in conjunction with Bryson FutureSkills to help those seeking employment gain training and valuable work experience. The programme will give participants better employment prospects, hands on learning and hopefully an improved health and wellbeing too. We look forward to welcoming the candidates to the Helm Housing team in the near future.Initial workshops where participants can drop-in to express their interest run from 12-2pm in Belfast on the following dates:

• Thursday 14th January - Maureen Sheehan Centre, Albert Street
• Friday 15th January - Manor Street Community Centre, Cliftonville Road
• Wednesday 20th January - Lagmore Parish Centre
• Thursday 21st January - Skainos Centre, Newtownards Road
• Friday 22nd January - Spectrum Centre, Shankill Road
• Thursday 28th January - Russell Court, Lisburn Road

The training workshops begin in February 2016 and will last for 13 weeks before participants enter their ten work experience until July. For more information on the scheme visit Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/brysonfutureskills.org'