A Plymouth man is enjoying a caring new career with help and encouragement from Remploy, the UK's leading provider of specialist employment services to people who experience complex barriers to work.
Thomas Drayton, 47, works as a support therapist for Small House Homes, which provides holistic residential care for people with autism, Asperger's Syndrome and a range of behavioural and emotional disorders.
It's a complete turnaround for Thomas, who had to leave his previous job as a carpenter after he had a heart attack and surgery. As he already has a range of health conditions, including dyslexia, fibromyalgia, lower and upper limb disorder and muscle degeneration in his back and neck, this came as a further blow.
"I'd worked in a boat building company for 13 years," said Thomas. "But after the heart attack, the job became a huge strain on my health and I had no choice but to leave."
Thomas received incapacity benefit for several months but was eager to find another job as soon as possible. He was referred to Remploy's city centre branch on Armada Way by his local Jobcentre Plus and stopped by initially for an informal chat with the team. Soon he was attending weekly one-to-one sessions with employment advisor Fran Harris, who tailored his job search and helped update his CV.
"I can't praise Fran and the branch team highly enough," said Thomas. "The practical help I received was absolutely fantastic but the encouragement and moral support was just as important as I was feeling fairly low at that point. It was as if I was drowning in an ocean and Remploy threw me a lifeline."
Fran said: "We discussed areas of work Thomas could transfer his skills to and discovered that he did voluntary work with a youth offending organisation and he was really keen to work for a support organisation. We identified several suitable vacancies and worked together to complete his application forms and he secured interviews very quickly."
After an interview with Small House Homes, he was soon offered the job of support therapist which involves working on a one-to-one basis with the homes' residents, cooking, cleaning, accompanying them on trips to the shops and the cinema and living as independent a life as possible. He works three 14 hour shifts through the week, sleeping over on one night a week. He's already received health and safety, food hygiene, physical intervention and autism training and he is working towards his NVQ3 qualification, as well as training to be a counsellor in his own time. He is continuing his volunteer work with the youth offending service, acting as a mentor.
Thomas said: "The job is so rewarding. It can be challenging at times but it's also so much fun and I work with a great team. Our aim is to provide the best life possible for the residents."
In his first three months, Thomas has already been nominated for an Employee of the Month award and his manager, Rachel Harris, says she is delighted with his progress.
"Thomas has shown huge amounts of determination and a willingness to learn," she said. "He has gone above and beyond during his induction period, putting a lot of effort into learning about the company and its policies and procedures. Thomas has estabIished positive relationships with the residents very early on and I can see already that Thomas is going to be a hard working, reliable and dependable member of the team."
In turn, Thomas has been impressed by Small House Homes and how getting the job with them has completely changed his life.
"I have struggled with dyslexia all my life and had been bullied in the past because of it. Now I'm a valued member of the team, have received training and I'm being assessed by Access to Work to help with any additional equipment I need to make my job easier," he said.
And he thoroughly recommends Remploy to others in a similar situation.
"It can be so hard out there and it takes a lot of effort to get the help - you really have to look for it yourself. But to get up in a morning and have structure to your day makes such a difference. The day I got my first pay cheque was incredible."