MATT BRITT: SERVICE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER -EMPLOYMENT
I have been supporting people with learning difficulties since 1992 where I worked in one of the large long stay institutions in Bristol. I was employed within the Occupational Therapy department and my role was to support people to access their local community for leisure activities. This gave a me a real opportunity to share with the people I was supporting their first experiences of a variety of community situations.
In 1997 I transferred over to work at Elm Tree Farm. The farm supported some very challenging people to learn about horticulture and animal care. As my role developed at the farm I became increasingly interested in the vocational training and education of the people I was supporting. With the support of a local Further education college we designed an accredited programme for the people at the farm. I ran this project for two years and incorporated several progression routes for students at the farm and developed links with a local school to provide training for their pupils. On the back of the success of our education programmes we expanded our provision over various sites within the Trust, which I managed.
In 2003 I took up the post of Services Manager with the responsibility for Supported Employment within the Trust. This role manages to keep me very busy and inspired by the diversity and the challenges it brings. My responsibilities include, managing our ten Employment Training Units, managing our ever increasing supported employment agency (BASE), Project Managing our ESF 2 progression2 project and Chairing the Bristol and District Network, which is a network for employment related service providers to disabled people. I am also a member of the employment sub groups for the Bristol and South Gloucestershire Partnership Boards and a member of the Pathways to Work Group for North Somerset, and have been involved in the writing of their employment strategies. I am also working with Social Firms UK, Valuing People and Business Link to develop Micro Enterprises for people with learning difficulties. I have also presented at both National and Local conferences on employment related issues. Currently I am managing projects in both Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset which are developing employment opportunities for people with learning difficulties. These will involve providing training and vocational profile job finding/support and job coaching whilst looking to develop social enterprise in these areas.
