Restart Scheme
Insha had very limited ideas of the career she wanted to pursue. Before coming to the Restart Scheme, she had been in full time education and had only had one short term employment placement working for Marks and Spencer. Insha’s motivation to work was quite low due to a lack of confidence and focus. She was incredibly quiet during appointments and had difficulty with time management since joining the Restart Scheme.
Insha was assigned Ella Gregg from Reed in Partnership as her Job Coach. The first barrier Ella addressed was Insha’s lack of direction. It was important for them to be able to work together to understand what Insha was looking to achieve both professionally and personally in terms of self-development. Ella enrolled Insha onto the Transferrable Skills and Identifying Job Goals workshops with the Restart Scheme Training Team.
Ella provided Insha with a range of potential opportunities to explore, including a Level 2 Digital Marketing course with LEAD Academy, and her personal interests in massage therapy. Insha enrolled onto the Digital Marketing course and became more confident with understanding her abilities and the conversations in this course led to Insha considering self-employment and pursuing her passions as a career.
Once Insha had completed the course, she was keen to explore the option of becoming a self-employed massage therapist. Insha booked herself onto a body massage therapist course to gain the correct qualifications. Reed in Partnership then supported Insha to allow her to attend a further face massage therapy qualification to extend the services she could offer.
With these qualifications behind her, and increased confidence and passion to learn, Insha then enrolled onto a higher level Digital Marketing course with LEAD Academy to progress her knowledge and skills. Lead Academy also provided her with free website hosting and domain as part of the qualification. Using the skills from this course, Insha designed and created her own website. With these tools and further knowledge, Insha then took the steps to become self-employed. This involved purchasing the correct insurances and ensuring that the relevant assessments had been carried out on her home where she was setting up her business.
Insha also sorted out trading permission from the council to treat customers from her home. Reed in Partnership also recommended an additional beauty course to increase Insha’s skills, pool of clientele, and services offered. Insha is now trading as a self-employed Massage Therapist in her local community and continues to learn about self-employment with support from the Restart Scheme.
Ella Gregg, said:
“Insha’s progress on the Restart Scheme has been fascinating to watch. Her confidence now in comparison to when she started on the scheme has grown significantly. I have always ensured Insha has had freedom to explore different opportunities and discover where she would like to go professionally. Her ambition to become self-employed grew throughout her time on her Digital Marketing course with LEAD Academy, and since completing her Level 4 qualification, she has now successfully launched her own business in her local community.”
