Our Stories: Donna

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Donna rediscovered her confidence and found work with our Back in the Game programme.

Sometimes the people we work with don’t have a good understanding of their potential or the possibilities that their lives hold. Donna was able to use our employability programme to realise not just her work potential but one of her personal goals too.

“I was a carer for my Down’s Syndrome aunt for 11-and-a-half years but when she sadly passed away I felt redundant,” she says. “I didn’t want to go back into Caring, but I knew getting back into any type of work would be a challenge.

“I’d left school and gone to college, but had to leave when I fell pregnant with my eldest daughter. It was so long ago I couldn’t remember what GCSEs I got!”

Her caring nature was apparent from the first Back in the Game session with Donna taking the role of ‘mother hen’ helping others settle and feel more comfortable in the group. Donna was determined to get back into work and put her efforts into developing her Maths, a subject which she really lacked confidence in.

Donna adds: “I studied Maths and English, but I wasn’t confident. I used to think I was thick but the course tutor explained that I had the skills, I just needed to remember how to use them and have the confidence to do so.

“Working with tutors over the 10 week programme she made steady progress and was always attentive and hard-working in sessions.”

This hard work has paid off and from the Back in the Game programme she was able to overcome this lack of confidence, eventually gaining a nationally recognised Maths qualification. The course paid real dividends however when she finally gained employment, which is helping pay for a wedding to her long-standing fiancé.

“The Foundation staff definitely helped me learn more about me as a person; that I care more for others than I do for myself,” she says. “I had to make time for myself, I didn’t consider myself an individual. I was a carer, a mother, a partner.

“A job opportunity came up and I thought, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’ but if it wasn’t for Back in the Game I wouldn’t have even filled out the application form. I told them I wanted to prove I could do it and they offered me the job.

“It’s fantastic because my partner and I are now looking to get married – we’ve been together for 17-and-a-half-years!

Foundation of Light has really changed my life; they showed me I can do anything as long as I believe in myself. They treat you as an individual.

Donna Humble, Back in the Game participant