Success Stories

James

James (22) from Pegswood joined Bridge in November 2020.  After studying and gaining a BSc in Geography and Natural Hazard Management at the University of Chester, James was lost after university ended to what was next. With the added complication of an ongoing pandemic and not really being sure of any long-term career path, James was feeling stuck.

Lindsey

Lindsey has a hectic life as a single parent looking after her daughter with complex needs. On top she has to manage her own mental wellbeing and physical health.
Now Lindsey is where she had never expected to be; her drive to improve outcomes for others is inspirational. We talked to Lindsey about connecting with Bridge Northumberland and the purpose driving her new direction.

Jayden

Jayden, from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, is embracing his new-found confidence after joining the Bridge Project in August 2020. Prior to joining, Jayden would spend most of his time in his room where he felt isolated and lacking social skills when it came to meeting new people his own age.

Shaun

Shaun is from Amble and has a young son. He contacted Bridge in Sept 2020 as he was unemployed and struggling in his search for work.

In his first meetings with Andrew, his one-to-one Bridge Worker, it was clear that multiple barriers had to be overcome before Shaun could realistically hope to find work. Shaun had issues with housing, problems with his mental and physical health and financial concerns.

Lucy

Lucy came to Bridge in October 2020, she is from Blyth, and is football mad – she lives for the game. Lucy asked her Bridge worker, Sheena, if she could tell everyone how keeping active is good for your mental health and how much sport has helped her.

Jack

Jack age 23 had been out of work for 2 years when he signed up to Bridge, feeling low and negative with little hope for a positive outcome. He was suffering from anxiety and depression and having real trouble motivating himself to get up in the mornings thinking “what was the point”.

Maureen

Maureen at 53 had been made redundant and was keen to change career, but lacked IT skills and was struggling to apply for jobs using only her mobile phone. In her words she felt "old and uncertain" when she was referred to Bridge. But in just a few months has retrained, gained new skills and has been offered a job thanks to our help!

Clive

Clive from Amble was frustrated he hadn’t been able to find work despite making many applications and feared that his age was preventing employers from offering him a job.

With our support, he was able to get the part-time job he'd been so keen to find.

Laura

Laura from Ashington was considering returning to employment after a few years of being a carer for a family member. But she lacked confidence and felt her skills were not up-to-date enough to be able to consider returning to an administrative role.

She joined the Bridge programme wanting to build her confidence and self-esteem, and get support to move on with her life and get closer to employment.

Kenny

Kenny had started to believe finding a job at the age of 63 would be impossible. But after coming to our Amble Employment Hub tells us how we helped him find employment.

Sarah

Sarah from South East Northumberland had been out of work for 9 months and was struggling with anxiety about returning to work. With our help, she's tackled online interviews, learnt techniques to manage anxiety through coaching and is delighted to have now found a job.

Stephen

Stephen from Amble has turned his life around with help from Bridge Northumberland. He has gone from being unemployed, facing financial and housing issues, and lacking confidence, to starting a new job this summer and in a much better place mentally.

Anne

Anne was made redundant in January 2020, and being in her 50s felt it was going to be difficult to find a job. Things took a turn for the worse when lockdown happened in March, and job vacancies became increasingly hard to find.

Mandy

It’s hard to believe Mandy initially struggled with confidence and felt socially isolated when she first joined. She wanted to gain new skills and get some support to re-enter work having been unemployed for a while, and is now a highly valued volunteer at a local Food Bank.

Julie

Julie Mills began Supported Volunteering after being suggested by her Bridge Worker as she was struggling with her confidence, and hadn’t worked since having her family several years earlier. She went on from volunteering to taking an apprentice role which resulted in winning National Apprentice of the year!

Carolyn

At the age of 52 Carolyn felt worthless and wanted to do something but felt that nobody would want to take her on because of her age. She came to Bridge with no CV, no up to date qualifications or IT skills and hadn’t worked for many years. We now catch up with Carolyn to find out where she is now and her new job!

Roy

Roy was referred to the Bridge Project by one of our partner organisations Northumberland CVA following a referral by the Jobcentre for them to support him with CV writing. At the time he had been unemployed for almost 2 years.

Linda

Linda from Seaton Deleval had always worked since leaving school in 1986, but found herself unemployed last year just after lockdown started in April.

Diane

Diane self referred to the Bridge Project in February 2019 after hearing about us from one of her friends who is an existing beneficiary.

Daniel

When we first met Daniel he was very anxious, in particular around leaving his home environment. He felt he would like to contribute and be more productive in life and indicated to his Bridge Worker, Garry, that he feels he wanted to do something with his life.

Michelle

Having been in work for 14 years Michelle had to step back from work through illness. She was at a low point in her life when she was introduced to the Bridge team having been out of work for a year. 

Thanks to encouragement and support she's started a new job over the summer.

Darin

Darin was referred to the Bridge Project by one of our Partners, Northumberland CVA having been unemployed for two years. A qualified electrician (having gained an HNC) Darin worked for around 8 years before breaking away to start a partnership of his own.

Justine

Before joining Bridge Justine was unemployed and suffered from depression and anxiety and didn’t want to leave the house.

Kevin

Kevin was referred into the Bridge Project in June 2017 by BRIC (Blyth Resource and Initiative Centre). Kevin who is dyslexic and suffering from depression when we first met him.

Lindsay

Lindsay was referred into the Bridge Project via her work coach at the jobcentre who had recently attended a meeting with Bridge staff and felt the project would be ideal for Lindsay.

Alex

Alex was referred to the Bridge Project in December 2017 via his local Jobcentre as they recognised he needed a bit more specialist wraparound support.

Tasha

Tasha was referred to the Bridge Project by Escape Family Support in May 2017 who told us Tasha had confidence issues due to being bullied and hoped Bridge could help her get started with things and to improve her life.

Roger

Having served in the Scots Guards with deployment in Northern Ireland and Kenya – his army career was cut short due to health issues.

Elaine

Tony, the Bridge Worker assigned to work with Elaine, when they first met he found her to be extremely anxious and withdrawn.