TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO GET LIVES BACK ON TRACK

A PIONEERING new project is aiming to ‘fast track’ dozens of long-term unemployed people in Liverpool into work.

The Social Partnership’s (TSP) ‘Get on Track’ project, funded by Liverpool City Council, is an intensive 10-week course providing training, mentoring and support. It was launched in January and already, after just six weeks, four of the participants have gained employment as community support workers in the drug and alcohol field.

Gemma Williams, 24, from Anfield, is one of those four to have secured a job and gain a renewed positive outlook through the course. She said: “It’s an intense course but that makes it interesting and very supportive. There’s no messing about.”

Having recently taken up a post with TSP’s Woodchurch Community Alcohol Project, in Wirral, after two years unemployed, Gemma added: “I was ready to get back into work and better my quality of life and as a community support worker I can start to help other people do the same. I’ve already started my training and it’s the best move I ever made.”

Such a time-intensive course as ‘Get on Track’ is an innovative approach to getting people back into employment after long periods out of work. The course participants are often faced with multiple barriers in their lives such as a history of drug/alcohol misuse, criminality, a lack of qualifications or work experience, homelessness, family problems and low self-esteem.

But, according to project manager Marie Fox, the key to success in the job market is to make an individual’s past experiences count. “We aim to help people to make the most of their past experiences and call upon them when deciding what career they would like to pursue,” she said. “We then build on their life skills and hopefully equip them with all the tools they need to gain work in that field.

“Our clients are with us for 16 hours a week and benefit from a broad spectrum of training including debt management, job search skills, stress awareness, presenting a positive image, drug awareness and IT. They can achieve accredited qualifications and we also provide work placement opportunities in order for them to gain valuable ‘on the job’ experience.”

The project can accommodate 10 to 12 clients every 10 weeks.

Registered charity The Social Partnership has been providing training and support to people across Merseyside for the last 15 years to help them gain employment and reintegrate into society.

For more information call The Social Partnership on 0151 258 1199 or log on to www.tsp.org.uk.

TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO GET LIVES BACK ON TRACK
CHARITY HITS THE RIGHT NOTE WITH CLIENTS

A CHARITY is helping street sex workers to find their inner voice through music.

By teaming up with vocal coach Charlie Adams, The Social Partnership’s Liverpool-based ‘Routes Out of Sex Work’ project is hosting singing and song writing classes to provide a fun and expressive activity for its clients.

Student Charlie, who is in the third year of a degree in Community Drama at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), has been teaching people to sing for seven years and was put in touch with Route’s Out coordinator Karen Smith while searching for groups to work with for her final year project.

For the last six weeks Charlie has been holding twice weekly ‘Voice It’ classes with 12 women, all former or active street sex workers, who have become involved with Route’s Out to learn new skills for employment. Sessions are held at The Armistead Street Project, on Stanley Street, where Routes Out is based. It is hoped that eventually the group will record a CD of their own songs, which may be sold to help raise money for the project.

Charlie said: “The classes are going really well and we’ve even started to produce some recordings of songs the girls have written with sound engineer Calum Rutherford, who is also a LIPA student. It’s not just about singing though, some people may prefer to write lyrics and focus on the spoken word but there is definitely some talent emerging. There are some strong voices coming through and some very creative writers.”

Karen said: “We’ve encouraged many of the women to join in and it’s been a positive experience for them. Music can be quite therapeutic and they often leaving the room singing so that’s a good sign. It will be great to have a CD of their work produced and we hope to hold a presentation day at LIPA soon.”

The Social Partnership launched its ‘Routes Out of Sex Work’ project for female street workers who want to pursue legitimate employment; providing advice on how to gain skills for work, health and emotional issues. Based in the heart of the city centre and in its second year, the project was initially funded through Liverpool Neighbourhood Regeneration Programme. To ensure the projects’ continuation, Supporting People have provided invaluable funding support to enable the project to maintain the level of support required to help the women engaged onto the project exit sex work, find suitable living accommodation and become fully integrated into the economy. Working in partnership with the Armistead Street Project, the team aims to bridge the gap between the street and the work place for active female sex workers by offering them realistic route-ways to exit.

Often motivated to start selling sex as a means to pay for a drug habit, or that of a partner or relative, exiting the street is far from an easy option for many.

Karen added: “The women we work with have a wide variety of career aspirations and we work with them to equip them with the skills and qualifications they need to enter the work place. As well as dealing with practical issues such as housing and welfare, we provide emotional support, counselling, assertiveness training and a great number of confidence boosting exercises to give them a chance of a normal life.”

For more information about Routes Out of Sex Work call 0151 227 1893. Alternatively, for more information on The Social Partnership call 0151 258 1199 or log on to www.tsp.org.uk.

Picture captions 1) Hitting a high note - Routes Out project manager Karen Smith with vocal coach and LIPA student Charlie Adams 2) Vocal coach and LIPA student Charlie Adams with Routes Out project manager Karen Smith and sound engineer and fellow LIPA student Calum Rutherford
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