Mark's Story

Mark has been out of work for over two and a half years after he was made redundant as a result of the pandemic. Since then, Mark has been receiving Universal Credit and has suffered from a lack of confidence due to his prolonged unemployment. He has struggled with his mental and physical well-being, compounding into difficulties in his social life too.

Mark subsequently joined our Street Life Active programme. His main goals when joining the programme were to become more active and to ultimately achieve employment.

The programme boasts a variety of sports and physical activities which have allowed Mark to discover new passions and improve his relationship with exercising and physical wellbeing. The Street Life programme also has a variety of well-rounded workshops focused on improving employability, with the aim of getting Mark and his peers back on track.

The first workshop explored healthy eating and nutrition, where they had discussions about diet and filled in their own food diary. In addition to this, they talked through mental health and well-being, setting their own personal targets for what they wanted to achieve by the end of the programme.

The programme also held a combination of employability workshops which included; team building and leadership, goal setting, budgeting, applying for jobs, and CV and interview preparation.

These workshops and support via the programme have enabled Mark to go on an incredible journey.

Mark now looks forward to attending future sessions, as well as taking part in physical activity which has seen him become healthier, both physically and mentally. Mark has incredibly regained his drive to work again, having applied for many jobs online, of which one has now resulted in an interview.

We asked Mark what the programme has meant to him on a personal level:

“I have really enjoyed being able to get out to these sessions and speak with adults as at home I am stuck on my own. It has been great to hear different points of view and have adult conversations as I spend so much time alone”.

He later referred to his physical and mental well-being improvements:

“I have been out of work for over two and a half years. I completely lost my confidence and doubted my own abilities. I was in a very low place and sitting at home doing no physical activity. These sessions have made me get more active, this has improved my confidence, and physical health and has motivated me to eat better and improve my overall health”.

Mark continued to discuss his professional development since joining the programme:

“The sessions have been made relevant to my needs and I have recently applied for a job and have been shortlisted for an interview, without these sessions I would not have had the confidence to go for this. Regardless of how the interview goes, I will be leaving these sessions in a much better place than where I started them”.

Click here to find out more about our Street Life programme.