One of the most important things that a CEA (Community Engagement Adviser) has to do is to identify and dispel any myths, misunderstanding and misconceptions that the young person may have, surrounding education, employment and training.

Whilst attempting to re-establish contact with the young people who have previously been unavailable to engage with education, employment and training due to ill health, one of the CEA’s came across this young person;

This young person dreamt of opening his own garage. He had already identified the course that he needed to complete and he knew exactly what college he wanted to attend. The only problem was, he had made a mistake three years ago, and now that he had a criminal record the college, wouldn’t accept him. Feeling frustrated after having his application rejected time and time again, this young person stopped pursuing his dream and eventually became disheartened with the world and ultimately depressed.

Reluctantly and after much persuasion, this young person agreed to meet with a CEA and ultimately gave permission for the CEA to talk on his behalf with the college and their safeguarding team. Within the initial meeting, the CEA discovered that it wasn’t the young person’s criminal record that was holding him back, it was the course entry requirements! The entry requirements had changed since this young person first researched the course, so he didn’t meet the entry requirements. This meant that his application was being rejected for a completely different reason than what the young person originally thought. Upon learning this, this young person immediately enrolled himself with a local training provider so he could achieve the required qualification. He also has plans to submit an application to the college for the next course, which is due to start in September.

This young person is now on his way to realising his dreams thanks to the support of his CEA working on the CSW Transitions Contract.