ALLAN POOK: SERVICE COORDINATOR (EMPLOYMENT UNITS)
I have been working in the learning disabilities field for over 10 years. I started work supporting adults with challenging behaviour to live in their own homes and was also part of an occupational therapy team for a year. I then became a day service worker supporting people with learning disabilities to access their local communities, going to college and getting a job. That's where my passion for supporting adults with learning disabilities into employment began. Over the last five years I have been supporting adults with Learning disabilities into employment and coordinating BASE, Brandon Trust's supported employment bureau. We have had a considerable amount of success, particularly in accessing Access to Work funding and in supporting people to resolve any benefit issues raised by their being employed. In order to achieve this I have developed strong relationships with colleagues at Jobcentre Plus, the Department for Work and Pensions and also with the parents and carers of the people we support. I have particular expertise in relation to supporting people who wish only to work a small numbers of hours a week.
I HAVE ALSO:
- Coordinated two successful European funded projects in the last 4 years and as part of these projects we developed an accessible Vocational Profile which we still use to this day.
- Been active in the creation of employment opportunities within our own organisation, helping to support individuals into there roles, and am always looking at how the organisation can "job carve" to provide employment opportunities when jobs become vacant within the Trust.
- Delivered work related training to people with learning disabilities, developing training to ensure that it is accessible and relevant to the target audience.
- Been involved in the training of staff within the organisation. I intend this to lead into a more in depth three day Employment Training course for staff within Brandon Trust.
