Hayden joined the European Social Funded COMPASS programme through Motiv-8 in October 2021. He lives independently but has support from carers as he is on the autistic spectrum. He struggles with his self-confidence and this makes discovering employment opportunities a real challenge. Whilst Hayden recognised that a traditional training and employment pathway was unlikely to cater for his needs, he was extremely keen to undertake training in an area that interests him, which we discovered were many and varied.

Hayden has an interest for repairing all sorts of things, so together with his coach they arranged a session at The Repair Café which he thoroughly enjoyed. To develop his self-confidence, peer-to-peer support was arranged with another participant who lived locally, this helped them both to develop and focus on their futures.

Discussions at his monthly reviews uncovered a real passion for bikes and his Motiv-8 Coach explored options to bring the two together. They identified and arranged support through a local, community organisation, Life ReCycle Ltd.  And Hayden secured a place on their ‘Build A Bike’ programme. The costs of the programme were met in combination with the European Social Funded COMPASS programme and some contributions from the Prince’s Trust.

Hayden started his course during May 2022, is making great progress and is now looking to the future and a professional Cycle Maintenance course that will enable him to become self-employed.