Success stories

Heather

Heather, 37 from Seaton Delaval, joined Bridge Northumberland just before Christmas in December 2021. Heather has volunteer experience in many roles. From working in a charity shop, a library, café and a Community centre. Heather would like to explore opportunities locally.

Sharon

Sharon 51 from High Hauxley joined Bridge Northumberland in March 2021, after her friend recommended Bridge to her. Sharon is a carer for her Mother and in the past has volunteered in Cancer Research and St Oswald's charity shops. Sharon was looking for Bridge to support her with English and maths and learn employability skills. She would also like to learn how to use a computer and improve her general skills as she had left school with no formal qualifications.

Kieran

Kieran 29 from Shilbottle joined Bridge in July 2020. Kieran had been in work in the past, but he was keen to find a new job with better prospects but felt his skills needed improving to achieve this.

Natalie

Natalie, 32 from Bedlington, joined Bridge in October 2021 when her work contract with a local charity ended. Natalie had heard through her own work in the charity sector of Bridge Northumberland and its reputation for successfully supporting people into work. She had even advised some of her clients to join, so when she found herself in the position of looking for work she knew where to head to.

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!

Adrian

Adrian 56 from Cramlington found himself unexpectedly out of work in April this year. After visiting his local Job Centre in Cramlington they suggested he sign up to Bridge for support after being out of work for over a month.

Poppy

Poppy, 24 from Hexham joined Bridge Northumberland for support in Feb 2021 being referred after a visit to her GP and speaking with the Social Prescriber at the surgery. Becoming unemployed triggered past anxiety and mental wellbeing issues for Poppy which were further impacted by the pandemic and the numerous lockdowns.

Phillip

Phillip 29 from Guide Post joined Bridge Northumberland in November 2020 . Due to the pandemic Phillip’s mental health was really suffering and this was impacting on his ability to look for work.

Debbie

Debbie 62 from Bellingham joined Bridge Northumberland in February this year after being made redundant and unemployed for 2 years. Facing serious challenges with her health and under pressure from the Job Centre, Debbie was struggling to find suitable work.

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.

Emma

Emma (38) from Blyth, in her own words was ‘at rock bottom’ in Feb this year. Unemployed  for the last year and having issues with her housing when she was referred to Bridge Northumberland by Sam at the National Careers Service. Emma was slightly disillusioned by being sent on yet another job scheme or course but agreed, thinking these things never happen or take months to start.

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.

Carole

Carole 52 from Morpeth started working with Bridge Northumberland in Aug 2020. Carole has been caring for her husband and elderly mother but she felt she wanted something for herself and would like to go back into paid employment after a 20 year break. Lacking in confidence and suffering from anxiety Carole needed help to be able to achieve her goal.

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.

Sophie

Sophie (22) from Hadston was referred to Bridge in April 2021 by the Job Centre in Amble. Sophie had found looking for work difficult since leaving College, made worse by the disruption cause by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Justine

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

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.

Roger

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

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.

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.

Elaine

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