Cedar team members and Service Users recently attended the Queen's Inclusive Employment Scheme catch-up event. The scheme is delivered in partnership with the Northern Ireland Union of Supported Employment (NIUSE) and provides individuals with disabilities or long-term conditions the opportunity to gain valuable work experience through placements within the University. The placements help participants develop their skills, build confidence, and improve their employability, with the ultimate goal of helping them move closer to or into paid employment.

As part of the Inclusive Employment Scheme, Alex Rowntree (Cedar SkillSET) has been working as a Clerical and Administration Assistant in the School of Nursing & Midwifery. He explained: "I support the social media and events team in a clerical and administrative role. My responsibilities include sourcing products, liaising with suppliers via email, managing cost spreadsheets in Excel, and assisting with social media content and event planning; 

"One of the aspects I have enjoyed most is meeting new people and working in a professional environment.

The role has been both engaging and educational, allowing me to learn how clerical and administrative work supports the social media and events team within the Nursing and Midwifery department."

Liz, Palmer, Employment Officer (Cedar SkillSET) said: 

“It has been great to see how Alex has really valued the opportunity to work on placement in Clerical and Administrative work in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queens MBC Building. Alex is well supported, and this has been a fantastic chance to gain work experience in a busy administrative setting, which will hopefully help build his CV and lead to further work opportunities.” 

SkillSET Employment Officer, Claire, explains how she supported Gareth into a placement with the School of Psychology as an Assistant IT Technician: 

"Gareth had previous experience in IT both through studying and working in an administrative role but had been out of employment for 5 years due to his health. When I started working with Gareth his goal was to find work experience in IT to help boost his skills and to see how he coped back out at work. I heard about the Queens Inclusive Employment Scheme and when I saw the Assistant IT Technician in the Psychology department, I thought this would be perfect for Gareth. The process to apply was straightforward with a pen picture to complete which Gareth and I sat over coffee and filled it in and emailed it to Queens. Queens contacted to call Gareth in for an informal chat and both Gareth and I came in to meet with Chris, Paul and Aaron. The meeting was so informal, and they talked about lots of IT things that went well over my head as someone who is not IT literate, but I could see how much Gareth was enjoying talking about this subject and how keen he was to be able to take part in the scheme. They were able to offer Gareth the role there and then which was great as it meant he left knowing this was the next step for him. The team were very flexible with when he could start and what days/hours would suit him around his medical condition. Gareth was able to start in November."

Speaking about the opportunity Gareth said:

 “It’s been a great opportunity to build and learn new skills as part of a great team. Their flexibility has allowed me to assess my own capability and allowed me to have a much more positive outlook about employment in the future.”

Claire added:

"Gareth has had great opportunities through his role from learning about 3D design and printing to IT support. I have been able to reach out to Chris to see how things are going, and he has been great at providing feedback and encouragement. The team were very understanding of his medical needs and support with transport to get to and from Queens which has allowed Gareth to be onsite as much as he can be. Gareth wasn’t keen to get up and speak today but I asked him to give me a quote I can use as to how he has found his experience. Thanks to both the NISUE, Queens and in particular to Chris, Paul and Aaron in the Psychology department for creating this amazing opportunity and for supporting Gareth to fully participate as a member of the IT team."

Kieran, SkillSET Employment Officer, attended with service user Tiarnan. He explained the importance of the event. "We carried our small group activities to gain insight on how staff and their support workers felt about the scheme, areas to improve, positives, and how beneficial it was to them." 

Tiarnan said: 

"I get an opportunity to do a job that is very hard to come by. I have learnt new skills and had opportunities that I would not have had in previous roles with the sector."

We are looking forward to continued involvement with Queen's University. This event allowed partner organisations to engage with the host. It was a perfect opportunity to reconnect, reflect on the Scheme’s progress, and hear directly from participants and highlighted the lasting, meaningful impact of the scheme.

SkillSET is a new innovative programme of specialist employment preparation and training, for people with a disability / health condition who are economically inactive. Cedar is delivering the service across NI as part of a partnership of seven disability organisations.