World Autism Acceptance March 2025: Employment (Inclusion Works) Inclusion Works aims to create and support opportunities for people with disabilities to develop the skills to engage independently in the community and to enhance their health and wellbeing by the delivery/ sourcing of: · Disability specific training e.g. Personal Effectiveness following Brain Injury, Understanding my Neurodiversity ASD · Community-based volunteering, training and social inclusion activity that can be sustained long-term · Basis Skills, Life Skills and Personal Development · Brain injury specialist rehabilitation in partnership with the Trusts’ Community Brain Injury Teams Inclusion Works is funded by all five local HSCTs in Northern Ireland. For further information on our employability service visit Work and Training | The Cedar Foundation If you are interested in discussing suitable work placements to enhance your business within the local community, feel free to get in touch with Cedar’s Employability Services on: [email protected] or [email protected] Case Study Rory joined Inclusion Works in April 2024, his support goals were around sustaining the placement, developing his employability skills and building confidence in his placement that he had started through a partner organisation. Erne and Gareth who run the coffee house, where Rory has his placement have welcomed Rory into their friendly, family business, facilitating regular reviews with Rory and Cedar and helping Rory to build on his strengths. With a natural flare for customer service, Rory has built a strong rapport with the regular customers, and week on week has enjoyed taking on new responsibilities – such as writing up the chalk board, making trips to the local bakery for fresh bread and producing a smashing Americano, when he has the time between serving happy customers! Erne and Gareth have been very open to working with Cedar to make the placement a success for everyone involved, participating in regular reviews and helping Rory to get the most out of his role. Cedar has also supported Rory to complete an online Barista course, helping him to develop his knowledge in the field of coffee-making, and following a successful independent travel training programme, Rory now journeys independently to and from work, using the local bus route. In a recent placement review, Rory told us ‘I like taking food and drinks up to the customers and chatting with them about their life stories and learning new things”. Rory reports that his confidence has really grown and this is echoed by Erne and the team at Vera & Ernie: ‘We look forward to Rory coming each week, as do the customers’, encouraging other businesses in the community to enjoy the benefits of facilitating voluntary work placements, Vera & Ernie, winners of The Ulster Tatler Coffee House of the year 2021, would highly recommend it! Cedar would like to thank the team at Vera and Ernie for working in partnership with us and we congratulate Rory on his hard work and dedication, and wish him continued success in his role!