Charity And Not for Profit Sectors

-Music- Our business is a mental health charity. We operate in the areas of Huntingdonshire. We offer a range of support, mainly about supporting people with their social care needs. We have a counseling service and we also do a lot about challenging stigma and discrimination regarding mental health and the issues surrounding that. So we are commissioned to cover generally the age ranges of 17 to 65. It was our Chief Executive who had made contact with Huntingdon Regional College to discuss the possibility of getting an apprentice. One of the main drivers is, like I said, we are looking to challenge stigma and discrimination and we're a charity so limited funds but also its about getting the message out there to as many people as possible and by having an apprentice we are getting somebody who is young, vibrant with lots of ideas and also can help educate us as well about how to get the message out there for young people. Natalie is the first apprentice that we have ever had but actually since doing this we've gone to a lot of our partner organisations as well and promoted the idea because it's been really useful. It not only offers her the opportunity of gaining the experience and obviously with the pressures of the job market and recession its harder for younger people so it's been good for us to be able to offer somebody that opportunity but also she's just been invaluable in the work she's done. It's been really nice actually to have somebody here whos been able to do the administration role and that's been good learning for her but it's also freed up other people so that they can focus on working with the people who use our services and like I say we've promoted it to a lot of our partner organizations who have then gone and made contact to see if they can get apprentices as well. I would say to anybody give it a shout and actually your giving back and giving people opportunities to start their step on the career ladder.