Jasmine’s Story

Jasmine is 22 and 3 years ago moved to Lowestoft all the way from Wales. While in Wales Jasmine struggled in school due to a lack of support around her anxiety. Due to this she had very low attendance causing her to leave school with lower grades than what she would have liked. Due to this it made Jasmines next steps very difficult however she did go to college where she completed 2 and a half years of animal care. After college is when Jasmine moved to Suffolk. Being in a new area with very little qualifications Jasmine found herself attending the Job Centre where she was put into a Kickstart scheme which lasted for 6 months however they didn’t offer a position at the end of this putting Jasmine back in the same position that she was in before. With her anxiety and lack of qualifications Jasmine felt she was back at square one with very little confidence in her future and no plan on how to move forward.

This is when she met Cathy from Apprenticeships Suffolk who recommended Pathways to Apprenticeships. This is how Jasmine met Tony, the Youth Employment Coach for the Lowestoft Area. After a few face-to-face meetings Tony suggested that Jasmine thought about doing the Team Programme with Inspire. He believed that this would help her to gain more confidence and allow her to meet new people and make some friends in the area which she hadn’t had the opportunity to do since moving to Suffolk. Jasmine completed the 12-week programme with flying colours and has learnt many things from her experiences.

Jasmine said her personal highlights were her work experience weeks and supporting others. This is because in both she got the opportunity to work with different groups of people and support them with different activities. She completed her work experience with the Befriending scheme who she is still volunteering with to this day. For supporting others, she worked with Inspires holiday clubs which allowed her to support children aged between 5 and 12 with both sports and craft activities. She is also looking to continue working with Inspire on holiday clubs in the future.

Working with YES and completing the Team Programme has helped Jasmine to make new friends and it has also hugely improved her confidence. She has also said that she improved on her leadership skills, and this was something she didn’t know she needed but has helped her a lot. Another think that Jasmine found beneficial was improving on her interview skills which she gained while completing a workshop with Tony while on the Team Programme.

After being on Team and working with YES Jasmine is hoping to start working for Better Healthcare where she will be a support worker working with young people who have learning difficulties. This is working with an agency and will have weekly shifts however allows her to also continue working with Inspires holiday clubs. She has already had an interview for this role, and it went so well she received a call 2 days later to say how impressed they were with how she interviewed.

Jasmine would like me to say thank you to everyone who has been involved in her journey with Inspire and The Youth Employment Service.

Comments From Jasmine:

“Everything was fun and helped me to make friends in the area”

“I feel Comfortable at Colville House the staff are all so kind and supportive”

“YES and Team helped me to be more confident and realise I am a lot stronger mentally and Physically than I thought”

East Suffolk