Zac’s collaboration project lands him an IKEA placement

Twenty-Three-year-old resident Zac Chamberlain is one of the latest residents with disabilities that the Routes to Work Team have supported into employment.

Zac has both Autism and Dyslexia, but he’s not let that stop him. When Zac contacted the team, his confidence was at an all-time low, and he needed a resilience boost. After getting to know and working with support worker Catherine, he was connected up with the support and training he needed. 

Tapping into support from the Tameside Futures Team he joined in Sports Sessions as well as Mental Health sessions to help build his confidence. The next step was to start to think about the job that he wanted to pursue and to put together a CV and plan to get himself fully ready for applying for jobs.

He then started looking into projects such as the King’s Trust and Groundworks but luckily came across the IKEA/ Bernardo’s collaboration project and with support from officers and communication with organisers, Zac was accepted on the programme which involved 8 weeks of a preparation/ confidence building course, followed by 10 weeks of paid work experience at IKEA (Ashton).

Zac is really enjoying his placement and is immensely proud of his uniform (and so is his mum!)