Meet Joe, one of the people taking part in our Pathway to Work scheme. This year, Joe has been working on placement within our Creative Communications team at our Oak House head office, and also at Byrne Avenue Baths – a sports and community hub in Birkenhead.
Our Pathway to Work programme helps autistic adults gain meaningful experience within the workplace, ensuring they have the right support to help them thrive.
We caught up with Joe and asked him to tell us more about his experience of Pathway to Work…
Hi, I’m Joe. I found out about Pathway to Work through Helen Bolton who works with Autism Together. She showed me what the scheme was all about.
I first started on the Pathway by doing work experience in an area I was interested in – helping the marketing and media team at Autism Together’s Oak House office in Bromborough.
I have found new ways to be creative thanks to the Pathway to Work programme. The team have shown me how to use creative tools like Adobe Express and Canva. I have been using these to help the charity by creating content for social media posts and poster designs for upcoming events. This has helped me become more confident in getting creative with a range of media tasks.
Recently I started helping at Byrne Avenue Baths. It used to be an old swimming baths and now it is a community centre for the public. I have been doing work experience there, helping them with social media posts to spread the word about what activities and events they do. I am really enjoying it so far.
I have enjoyed the Pathway to Work programme. I’ve gained more confidence in my work and in myself. Also, I’ve been getting along with the staff that I work with – they have been kind and helpful. The only thing I would change is to suggest doing more days at Oak House, because I have really enjoyed this work experience.
I would advise other people to give the Pathway to Work programme a go, because it has helped me gain new skills, confidence, and has helped me step out of my comfort zone.
