what makes us unique

A key feature of our delivery is a unique empowerment driven business counselling model specifically designed to support and meet the practical needs of young people. Business counselling is a hybrid of emotional counselling and business strategy, which is a proven potent and successful mix.

Our client-led approach informs all aspects of our provision, from the outreach awareness raising activities through to the counselling and training support. Young entrepreneurs are not a homogenous group, they come with differing levels of experience, abilities, background and capabilities. Recognising and acknowledging this fact is vital to the success of the counselling support provided. The term client-led, literally means the client is allowed to take the lead, to set the pace of work and develop their business skills and activities at a rate that suits their needs and life at that particular time. Should this change in the course of the work, this shift is accommodated.

Client-led also refers to the client’s learning style and manner in which they feel they can be best supported. The client’s individual development plan reflects this in the nature of the support programme developed between the client and their counsellor. The client’s input is encouraged and valued at all times and this gradually builds trust in the counsellor and the process and more importantly builds self esteem, confidence and a real sense of worth in the young entrepreneur. We do not predetermine the period of time, or number of sessions a young person can have. Those young people who decide that self-employment is not the route for them walk away better informed and with transferable skills to create access into further education or employment.

A wealth of business support materials is available for the counsellor to utilise in support of the business skills development part of the programme. These materials are carefully developed so as not to overwhelm the clients with more information than they need at the time to achieve their objective.

All of the above enables an appropriate blend of counselling, participative learning and practical support to be provided and tailored to meet the needs of each young person.

Despite the issues of sustainability and increasing outputs and target pressures placed on us by funding streams, our work remains quality driven and not quantity.