Initiative offers work opportunities for Camphill

An Tearmann opening soon. Inset, Emma Jane Meredith of the Camphill My Dream Job initiative.

A My Dream Job initiative within the Camphill Communities of Ireland is working with service users and businesses to provide work experience for the organisation's clients, writes Brian Byrne. The programme is part of the WorkAbility: Inclusive Pathways to Employment Programme co-funded by the Government through the Department of Social Protection, and the European Union.

The initiative is being managed in Camphill operations in this area by Careers and Employment Facilitator Emma Jane Meredith. Implementation of the project began in June and a number of training workshops have already been held for participants at the Employment Hub in Carrick-on-Suir.

"These have included personal development, confidence building, and manual handling," says Emma Jane, who previously worked with the Kildare Leader Partnership and subsequently the National Learning Network in RehabGroup. "We have also had sessions on barista training, and basic maths and literacy. It's great to see all taking part, they're really into it, and the social element is also very important."

WorkAbility aims to ensure that people with disabilities are fully supported to find and maintain employment, and that suitable support and any necessary training is also provided to organisations which employ participants. The process includes identifying the skills and interests and support needs of interested participants, and matching those with prospective employers. "Those interested will fill out a short form, which includes what they would consider their dream job. After registration on the programme, we'll discuss preferences like whether they want to work indoors or outdoors, if they want to job shadow or like written instructions. It sets up a vocational profile that gives me an idea of where they'd like to be, what they'd be good at whether it's administration, customer facing, or outdoors, and so on."

Participants are then matched to potential employers through a careers portal website. "If, for instance, someone was interested in working in a garden centre, I'd go and talk to the manager and see if there would be availability for work experience. If there was, we'd set that up for a number of weeks." Hours of work would be tailored to the ability of the participants, and preparation for work, skills training, and on the job support are all part of the initiative. 

While initial engagement may be as work experience, the end goal, where possible, is a level of paid employment. "It would be up to the employer whether or not to pay something during work experience, but at the end we would have the conversation about whether there is ongoing opportunity for paid employment?"

In Kilcullen, the imminent reopening of the An Tearmann cafe will provide opportunity for three Bridge Camphill clients to work there, reactivating what was an important part of the Bridge Camphill experience before it went into lockdown for the duration of the pandemic. Other participants will also be given the opportunity for work experience here with a view to moving on out into the wider community to seek paid employment.

Participation in the programme is open to both residential clients and day service users of Camphill.

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