New Deal for Disabled People customer Barbara Tomkinson, who was the first person who registered with Seetec’s new Yeovil centre, has found work after 25 years of claiming benefits.

Barbara had sustained injuries in a car crash in 1983, which had prevented her from continuing to work.  She felt that she needed to get back into the labour market, but had been out of work for so long she didn’t know where to start, and felt nervous about going into her local Jobcentre Plus office.  Fortunately, she saw an advert for Seetec in her local paper and bucked up the courage to phone for an appointment.

Over many meetings and months Seetec worked with Barbara to realise her job goals, help write her CV, make job applications and rebuild her confidence. Barbara has a naturally caring nature and staff identified youth work and support worker roles as job goals where she could use these life skills.

Over the months Barbara's confidence grew and she gained the skills to self-direct her own job search, where previously staff had helped her complete application forms.  Barbara was very committed to her job search and made regular job applications, she also continued with Seetec’s support with interview techniques, motivation and confidence building.

Barbara did have some highs and lows; in August she was offered a job with the Council but unfortunately, it was for maternity cover and not really what she wanted so she declined the offer and continued to search for a more suitable position. In September, Barbara narrowly missed out on a role as a Children's Support Worker and received very positive feedback from the interviewers, which boosted her confidence further. In October, Barbara was offered employment as a Support Worker in a Care Home very local to her which to her delight was exactly what she was looking for.

As Barbara had been on benefit for a while she didn't have a Jobcentre Plus Advisor so staff helped Barbara contact the benefits office to advise them of her job offer and arrange for her job grant, Return to Work credits and Working Tax Credits.

Barbara started her new job in October 2008 saying “I am so happy to be back at work, it has given me a new outlook on life and it is great to feel worth something again.  Many thanks to Jo and all the staff at Seetec”.

Barbara took part in the New Deal for Disabled People programme at Seetec, if you would like to find out more information, please click here.