Have you ever considered offering a potentially life changing work placement to a student with learning disabilities?
Here at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, we have been proudly supporting Project Search for more than a year, offering placements with our Estates and Facilities team at the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby.
Working in partnership with Linkage Community Trust and North East Lincolnshire Council, we have seen first-hand the benefits these placements have brought, not only for the young people but for our organisation too.
And Regan, 20, is a perfect example.
He has been working with our Estates team since September – and is already regarded as one of the team, spending time with them socially, as well as being a firm favourite in the workshop. Known throughout the Trust for being friendly and helpful, the team has even started to learn sign language in their own time, to help them to better communicate with Regan, who is deaf.
Maintenance Assistant, Josh, said: “Regan fitted in straight away, from the off. To start with, the language barrier, the communication was a bit difficult, but we overcame it. Regan is able to talk to us through phone, text and some sign.
“A lot of the guys in the workshop have been learning to communicate in Regan’s world, so we have some sign language posters up and a lot of the guys took it upon themselves to learn through apps on their phones and just general day-to-day talking with Regan, trying to pick it up.
“We’ve learned a lot from Regan. I’ve gone home and shown my children – it’s been nice to break into a different world and learn something new through the project, as well as us showing him how to get into this career.”
Regan has also taken to the work like a duck to water.
Maintenance Craftsperson, Colin, said: “Regan is very intelligent and only needs to be shown something once to become competent in replicating what he has been shown to do. I have no doubt that he would be a great asset as a permanent member of the department.”
Josh added: “It’s great to have someone in the workshop who just wants to knuckle down. If you ask him to do a job, he’s not afraid to it whether it’s plumbing, mechanical, or anything day-to-day. He just gets on with it and we have a good time doing it.
“It’s nice to show someone who wants to learn, who wants to be here, who wants a career here. I can see him going very far within Estates and Facilities and beyond.
“We have a good friendship. It’s nice to have such a good personality come in. With the clinical staff, going on to wards, you show our Trust values of Kindness, Courage and Respect, which is just fantastic.
“I would see Regan here full time, five days a week, just doing what everybody else does, because there is no barrier that will hold him back within our Trust. Everyone is here to help.
“I think it’s the right environment to be in and it’s also in the trade environment where he wants to be. With the help that we can offer, being such a large Trust, we can bring you to where you need to be.”
