The target client group includes those who are considerably distanced from the labour market due to a variety of reasons including health/ disability issues, substance abuse, lone parents, long-term unemployed, those with an offending record etc. Addressing these issues presents significant challenges to the work of the Inclusion Team.

The focus for the team this year will be to build on our previous performance by strengthening the support mechanisms available to clients, particularly in terms of ensuring sustainable outcomes; employment outcomes, continuation and development of assessment tools and techniques to provide detailed analyses of service users’ needs; personal development groupwork and support to address low educational attainment.

Services 2005/06

Outreach

The team will continue to seek opportunities throughout the community to make contact with local residents who experience exclusion in whatever guise. A dedicated outreach strategy will be developed and implemented to ensure that both residents and referral agencies have access to our services.

Refresh

This Programme for stabilised methadone users is aimed at recovering drug users who are committed to making positive changes in their lifestyles and links them with opportunities in employment, training and learning.

The aim of this programme is to build on, widen and enhance the work of the Freshstart project by engaging clients in activities which enable them to obtain the full benefit of the Refresh programme and, further support them in their overall aim of working through a plan of action which will ultimately lead to employment opportunities

Funded from the New Opportunities Fund (Big Lottery) under the ‘Better Off’ initiative, one of the most innovative features will be the development of programmes with partner organisations such as Impact Arts who bring enhancements to the project through the provision of interactive multimedia programmes to encourage creativity and develop a range of employability skills.

There will be a focus on developing a work placement programme, providing training and employment opportunities for recovering users, which will influence and support the development of employer policies on substance misuse.

Moving On

The overall aim of this pilot project is to create a flexible support mechanism to help 20 economically inactive people overcome the barriers, real and perceived which prevent them from re/entering the job market. It is anticipated that the people targeted for support will have to overcome a range of barriers such as deficits in their employability skills, confidence, motivation and health status which will need to be addressed to help them to be more competitive in accessing job opportunities in the labour market. If the project can demonstrate its effectiveness and success in achieving positive outcomes the findings will be fed back to Jobcentre Plus and hopefully used to inform policy and practice in central governments latest welfare to work initiative, ‘Pathways to Work’. The project is a joint initiative between CEDA, The Initiative and the South and South East Social Work Departments and is funded by REFOCUS.

Castlemilk Learning Together Partnership

As a result of the successful delivery of Phase One of this project, a continuation bid to Glasgow City Council has been successful and will enable a range of services to be developed and delivered in conjunction with partner. The Castlemilk Learning Together Partnership is a partnership project between CEDA, COJAC, Langside College and The Jeely Piece Club. Discussions are currently underway to expand membership of the partnership to other local organisations. The project provides support with a range of activities including; Reading Skills – developing reading at any level, writing Skills – writing letters, reports, form filling, creative writing and Numeracy – developing basic skills, preparing for tests etc. The key themes for Phase 2 of the project will be ‘Workplace Learning’ and ‘Engaging with disengaged groups’. This will include a programme of Family Learning in conjunction with local schools.

ICT Related Literacies

The service is delivered by a team of experienced computer literate, literacy and numeracy staff throughout the local area and provides support to people who want to improve their basic skills.

Working for Families

Delivered in partnership with Glasgow City Council, with funding from the Scottish Executive Social Justice agenda, the project aims to solve childcare issues within families by providing support for parents who are either in, or about to progress into training, education or employment outcomes. A guidance worker and a childcare mentor work with two target groups; a caseload of clients who require childcare assistance to enable them to participate in learning that will enable them to re-enter mainstream employment, and staff within childcare provision organisations. Project staff can provide support and assistance with childcare costs, Children’s Tax Credit and support in finding a childcare provider, which meets individual needs of clients.

Healthy Return to Work

This is a new pilot programme delivered in partnership with Healthy Return to Work; the aim is to deliver a whole range of treatments and services which are designed to help clients manage mental/physical health conditions that act as barriers to work. Clients have access to physiotherapy, counselling, addiction services and psychotherapy. The Healthy Return service is offered to clients as part of a wider range of help and support.

Personal Training and Development

A wide range of services is offered to clients on both a 1-1 and group basis, as appropriate to their needs. A significant focus this year has been on targeting customers for programmes, which raise self-esteem and address issues of low self-confidence. These issues time and again are identified as major barriers to successful and sustainable outcomes.

Partnerships

Working in partnership with the Equal Access Manager, formal partnerships and procedures will be established to take forward the Equal Access Strategy in the community. We will continue to work with a range of partners in the voluntary and statutory sectors at a local and city wide level such as voluntary organisations, Job Centre Plus, Social Work and Health Services.

Developments

Life Coaching

A CEDA staff member has commenced training to become a qualified life coach. The skills learned will be used to assist Castlemilk residents make appropriate changes to their lifestyle to help them re/enter the world of work. In the longer term, additional sources of funding will be sought to enable the team to provide life coaching as one of our mainstream services.

Client Focus Groups