Get Set Opening Doors Hastings

The project runs across Brighton & Hove and East Sussex. It works with anyone with a long term health condition or impairment (including mental health conditions) who wants to move back into work. It provides ongoing coaching and support alongside a range of courses. The support offered is long term, supporting people not only to get a job, but to thrive in it once they do.

The team provides a welcoming, friendly environment and ‘safe space’ where each individual is encouraged to fulfil their potential in a way and at the pace which is comfortable and achievable for them.

We enable participants to take the first step on their journey to employment,  and encourage them to keep going every step of the way, offering continued support to reach goals.

Get Set Opening Doors builds practical skills and the things employers want, such as:

• writing a good CV
• acing interviews
• using the internet
• filling in job application forms.

But it also covers other things which are just as important for those of us with a long term health impairment, including:

• building confidence and self-esteem
• managing anxiety
• building self-management toolkits and Wellness Action Plans (WAPS)
• learning how to manage your health condition or impairment in a work setting
• talking to your employer about your health condition or impairment
• how easy it can be to make reasonable adjustments.

Empowering and enabling people to overcome the barriers they might face to getting a job is especially important for people who have been unemployed for a long time; it can be hard to maintain hope and motivation in the face of repeated rejection on your own.

Because support is long-term, and staff get to know participants  over time, they will still be in the background offering continued support if needed when someone is in work.

I would not be in work now without Get Set, I couldn’t see a future, I didn’t have the confidence to apply for a job as I didn’t think I could do it. My life was all about ‘I can’t.  You showed me ‘I can’, and I have. Thank you.” Get Set Participant.

People are empowered and encouraged to thrive independently at work, but if something changes and some support or advice about managing your health in work is needed, the team will only be a phone call away. The team also work closely with local employers to ensure businesses can recruit and support disabled staff members.

As well as moving into employment, this holistic approach enables participants  to become more involved in their local community, overcome feelings of isolation and have hope for the future.  The service listens to what hasn’t worked for someone in the past and encourages them to find solutions to whatever problems they face.

In the last 3 years Get Set has supported 320 people in Sussex and Surrey:

• 102 people have already moved into paid work.
• 104 started volunteering,
• 31 progressed onto further training in the community.
• In total, 542 certificated short courses were completed, often by people with no formal qualifications.

You get where we are coming from. I’ve been on many courses but none like this; they believed in me and now I believe in me too.” Get Set Participant

This  approach is unique, and the project has been designed and is delivered by people with a lived experience of overcoming health barriers in the workplace.

I’ve never been on something that helped me like this, addressed my health and all the barriers I saw, things like disclosure which I never could have faced, I have a WAP and know about adjustments and I am applying for jobs.  I haven’t worked since my health changed years ago but know I will be working soon“. Get Set Participant.