Tamzyn had started a nursing course but her health condition meant she wasn’t able to complete. She has depression, anxiety and ME, as well as a functional neurological disorder. She was really disappointed as she thoroughly enjoyed care-based work and had previous experience as a care worker.

Tamzyn was referred by Liskeard Job Centre as her Work Coach thought she would benefit from the support offered through the Compass project.

Kylie and Tamzyn worked together to identify areas of work which would meet Tamzyn’s needs. Flexi work was essential as sometimes she loses speech, lacks energy and concentration, has poor mobility requiring the use of a wheelchair or crunches from chronic fatigue syndrome.

Kickstart positions at Cornwall Council in the business support team were explored as the Council has a flexible working policy which meant she could work from home, meeting Tamzyn needs.

She was keen to apply and with support from Kylie she submitted her application and was selected for interview for a Business Support role. After some interview preparation with Kylie, she attended her online interview and was delighted to be offered the job!

Tamzyn’s manager has been really flexible and has arranged for her to fit work hours around when she feels well, working in a flexible way around her seizures and her manager and other staff are really supportive of her. Reasonable adjustments have been made to meet her needs with things such as communicating via email and post to avoid anxiety with the telephone. Tamzyn has approached her manager to help her develop her confidence around working with customers via the telephone, building her confidence.

Tamzyn is continuing her Kickstart role and, with new permanent roles coming up very soon in the team, her manager has suggested Tamzyn apply. As soon as these go ‘live’ Kylie will support her to apply for a permanent part-time position.