Oliver’s Story

Oliver has come from a really complex background where they were bullied and taken advantage of online throughout their school years. We were not part of Oliver's initial journey when they first joined Autism Plus, but when they were handed over to us, we was told that Oliver wasn't ready for work or volunteering. Oliver has ASD and ADHD which means that they struggle with communication, social interactions and learning.

When we first met Oliver, we saw a determined young person who needed people to believe in them. Oliver knew that they were ready to work and was willing to put in the effort to making this happen.
We spent a long time finding the correct support groups for Oliver to make sure that they were supported in all areas of their life. We found an LGBTQ+ support group which helped build Oliver’s social confidence and help them to explore their identity in a safe space.

We then moved onto helping Oliver gain some work experience. We practiced interview skills and application skills together and spoke about realistic job occupations that Oliver would be qualified for and matching this to their interests. We agreed to explore volunteering initially.

We worked with Oliver to help open conversations about career paths. Oliver was very passionate about working for companies they liked. We took the parts that Oliver liked about the companies they wanted to work for and explored other companies with similar qualities to expand our job search.

We also found and helped Oliver to join the LGBTQ+ group above so that Oliver was able to speak to people who were going through similar experiences.

We spent some sessions talking about internet safety (with support from Oliver’s mum) and making sure that Oliver knew how to protect themselves against unkind people online.

The outcome was that Oliver was offered an interview to volunteer with the British Heart Foundation. Oliver smashed the interview and let us know in the next session that they were going to begin working the following week!

They have fit in straight away. Oliver’s co-workers adore them and management recognise what a hard worker Oliver is. Oliver really enjoys their time there.

We noticed a massive increase in Oliver’s confidence, the longer they spent working at the charity, and how excited they were to learn new skills within the role. Oliver settled in so quickly and has taken on lots of shifts enthusiastically, demonstrating that they just needed someone to believe in them.

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