Next Steps supports people with learning difficulties and mental health problems. Darren was costing the state £150,000 per year without making progress, but after one year with Next Steps accessing coaching and courses, he got a paid job, flat, and support network and no longer relies on state services. Next Steps helps people gain life and job skills to achieve social inclusion and sustainable employment through workshops, support plans, on-the-job mentoring, and raising employer awareness of opportunities.

1. Next Steps
Next Steps supports people like Darren. Darren has a learning difficulty and
mental health problems. He was costing the state £150,000 per year and wasn’t
making real progress. His ‘challenging reputation’ meant he wasn’t eligible for
many services.
Darren was a member of Next Steps for a year. He accessed one to one
coaching and a range of our courses including work, travel and social skills that
together provided a complete, holistic solution. Next Steps supported him to
get a paid job, a flat of his own and develop a circle of support so that he no
longer uses state services. Darren is now a Speaking Up Trustee.

2. The big picture

3. Features, benefits and needs
Features – how it works
• Life skills workshops supporting members to
Needs our project meets gain skills and make informed choices
• The statistic: only 17% of people with a
• An individual support plan for each member
learning disability in work – Next Steps
centred on their aspirations, needs and wants
offers long-term solutions to this problem
• Ongoing on-the-job support and peer mentoring
• Lack of employer awareness of
once in employment, ensuring sustainability
disability issues and the positive
contribution employees with learning
difficulties make: “We’re missing a huge
Benefits of the project
talent pool which employers can tap into”
• Individuals gain increased confidence, social
– Care Services Minister Phil Hope
skills and knowledge to access employment
• Social isolation: Next Steps offers a
opportunities
holistic approach that works to address a
• The skills they learn are sustainable and
multitude of isolating issues and enables
transferable
people to contribute to their and their
• The wider community benefits from
communities’ economic and social
individuals moving from positions of isolation
success.
to inclusion

4. Measures of our success
1. 28% of people worked with will move into sustainable paid employment.
2. 80% of people worked with will achieve social inclusion where they are
accessing a wide range of social, educational and leisure activities in their
community
3. A strong contact base of employers will have been developed and we will
have raised awareness of the benefits of employing disabled people through
our DVD

5. The support we need
1. A Project Worker to give more support to our members and our existing
staff base and increase the work we are already doing and the number of
people we reach
2. The support to develop a short DVD and other marketing resources that
can be shown nationally to potential employers and placements about the
value and benefits of having a person with a learning difficulty on their
team
3. An Employer’s Eye View – a positive role model in the form of an employer,
to champion the benefits of having someone with a learning difficulty
working for them