Building People, Changing Minds: Voluntary Work Placements for Adults with Learning Disabilities and Mental ill Health
Building People, Changing Minds (BPCM) was a pilot project aimed at placing adults with learning disabilities, mental ill health and people seeking sanctuary into voluntary work placements. The project was a partnership between Lewisham Local, Lewisham Speaking Up and Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network, and co-produced by people with lived experience.
The project has now closed and ran for 18 months from April 2022 to November 2023.
our impact
- 58 Referrals received
- 32 staff from 20 employers training as Hosts, becoming more mindful of reasonable adjustments needed
- 22 Work Placements brokered across 20 Employers
- 5 placement graduates into paid work
The Employer Support
Lewisham Local will offer full support to you as a host employer to prepare you and your workplace in advance of taking on work placements, including an access budget for each participant and mandatory training for you and your colleagues.
Training – Employers will complete an Inclusive Champions Training with content covering all the considerations and adaptations you may need to make when hosting a placement for all three cohort groups: adults with learning disabilities, adults with mental ill health and people seeking sanctuary.
Financial Support – We will provide an access budget for reasonable adjustments to help ensure you can meet the access needs of placement participants.
Support throughout the Placement – The Placement Host and Placement Participant will have the chance to meet in an informal setting before starting the placement and alongside the Work Placement Coordinator.
Once the placement begins, the Work Placement Coordinator will hold regular check-ins with both Placement Host and Placement Participant to discuss how the placement is progressing.
The Values
At the heart of Building People, Changing Minds is a belief in the ability and value of all people. If your organisation has a business need or project that could benefit from extra support, a work placement through this project could be perfect for you.
A voluntary work placement will bring the energy, vibrancy, and freshness that will allow your place of work to go from strength to strength.
We welcome employers from all sectors and a diversity of roles for our participants.
The Project Participants
The project will engage a wide diversity of people, including people with learning disabilities, mental ill health, and people seeking sanctuary. Our work placements will be open to all.
You can refer people to using the form at the bottom of this page or you can self-refer.
We will assess referrals from a range of sources, including local charity and statutory sector organisations to schools, higher education and adult learning centres. Placements will be arranged according to whether we can find a work placement that suitably matches the needs and interests of the participant. We cannot guarantee that we will find a suitable match for every referral.
Referring someone to a Building People, Changing Minds Placement
Hosting a Building People, Changing Minds Placement
If you would like to know more about hosting a voluntary work placement for people with learning disabilities or mental ill health, please contact workplacements@lewishamlocal.com
If you are would like to know more about hosting a voluntary work placement for sanctuary seekers, please contact info@lrmn.org.uk or visit their website here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Employing someone with a learning disability is an opportunity to employ someone who is keen to work. BPCM represents the opportunity for a committed relationship.
There are approximately 5,000 people with learning disabilities in Lewisham, if you want to be an employer committed to equalities, diversity, and inclusion then this is a fantastic opportunity to do so.
If you do not know where to start with employing people with complex needs or require a few more questions answered, then the training and support we provide through BPCM can help.
We aim to reach solutions to problems together via communication between employer and placement participant. The Work Placement Coordinator will be on hand to help suggest creative solutions to problems that might arise.
We will also offer a flexible project that understands that things don’t always work out, if life circumstances change or if a problem cannot be resolved we are happy to move a participant to a different placement or to restart a placement later in the year.