Once you have joined BEST through a successful referral, we will try to offer you the following services:

1. Careers Evaluation
2. Personal Profiling and Preparation
3. Work Placements
4. Work Placement Support
5. Advice on Welfare Benefits
6. Advice and Support on LIfelong Learning
7. Job Search and Interview Skills

Below you will learn more about these Services
we offer

By completing the six weeks Work Associated Skills Preparation (W.A.S.P.) programme we are able to make more sense of what work can mean for you as a unique individual, in unique circumstances. Together we create a personal profile that considers your needs and wants by looking at your leisure pursuits and time structuring; your personality and hard/soft skills; your independent living skills; your health and well being; and your experience and qualifications.

This profile has three uses: First, it assists you in working out where you best ‘fit’ into the complex world of work – showing you how to match up with what’s ‘out there’. Second, it forms the basis for a simple CV (produced in session 7) which highlights how all the different aspects of your profile reflect in your CV - so you can sell yourself with confidence to employers. Third, and most importantly, it encourages you to understand and then shape your own
development.

This can help you progress by: developing clarity and assertiveness, building motivation and confidence, giving greater awareness of your current skills, identifying new skills to gain, discovering direction and learning to think positively.

In short, our goal is giving you greater control over your life. It is then up to you what you do with that!

Some people who use our service have never worked at all; some have had experience of only one type of job (maybe becoming unwell whilst in that role) others have had fairly typical job histories prior to their difficulties. Even at the best of times, choosing what is right for oneself is not easy for most people.

What might you like to do? Well, that is much more difficult to decide when you don’t know i) what’s available and ii) what it will involve. That is why this module comes first and is compulsory: it helps us and you to get the best balance between choice and realism.

Most importantly, this module helps everyone to gain exactly the right information that will assist you in making effective and satisfying choices; ones that work well for you. This module is interactive and helps you to learn new skills as you complete it. It will usually involve one or two sessions of up to two hours in length. You will have plenty of opportunity to address practical issues arising from this module in the Work Preparation Programme.