Four new faces as Bridges Project restructures

As many as four new staff members have started in the space of a month during what is Bridges Project’s biggest restructuring and expansion process in recent times.

Ewan Cameron, Mhairi Kiernan, Mihalis Michailidis and Simona Scarfo have all joined the newly established Education & Employability Team.

Ewan has taken over Grant Hamilton’s East Lothian One Council Partnership funded Employability Support Worker (Schools) role after the latter took on a new challenge as a Personal Development Worker within Bridges Project’s revamped Skills for Life Team.

“I wanted to do something related to community education, which I learned about during my Public Sociology degree at University. I’m looking forward to seeing the difference the support will make to young people,” said Ewan.

The new Employability Support Worker (Schools) will be working with young people in S4 across the six high schools in East Lothian to help them look at their options and move on to positive destinations after S4.

Ewan will be working closely with Employability Support Worker Mhairi, also funded by East Lothian One Council Partnership. She takes over the role from Sam Lamond, who has started as an Educational Support Worker for Bridges Project’s new Robertson Trust funded Support2Thrive service.

Mhairi was drawn to Bridges Project as she has experienced the impact the charity can have first-hand:

“Bridges Project has previously helped people I know move into positive destinations and the support provided is something I myself wish I had when I was younger. I want to help young people find a better version of themselves and sculpture themselves into well-rounded adults,” said Mhairi.

She will help young people develop the skills they need to move into work, further education or vocational training. Mhairi’s role will be similar to the ones of Simona and Mihalis, who both join Bridges Project as Employability Support Workers (16+).

Simona will be working with Leigh McAvinchey, who was previously one of Bridges Project’s Young Carers Support Workers, on delivering the charity’s Way2Work 16+ service. After the charity recently secured match-funding from the Scottish Children’s Lottery to complement funds from the Agnes Hunter Trust, the service has doubled its capacity and can now support 40 young people a year. This is up from last year’s capacity of 20.

Simona was inspired to work in the charity sector when she was working as a carer during the Covid-19 pandemic and hopes her own experiences can inspire young people.

“I have myself changed what I want to do several times and I think that can help young people realise that there is no right way to do things,” she said.

Together with Leigh, she will be supporting young people who are unemployed or who have left school without a positive destination to realise their full potential and develop the skills necessary to move into work, further education or vocational training.

They are joined by Mihalis, who will take a lead on another new service, Spark Your Future. Funded through East Lothian Council’s No One Left Behind Employability Programme, it will help young people gain the confidence and skills required to secure a job, modern apprenticeship or a volunteering post or to enter further education.

Mihalis holds a degree in Biomedical Science and comes from a laboratory job with the NHS.

“I did my degree to help people but I realised I wanted to help people in a more direct and creative way. I’m looking forward to getting to know the young people and help them develop. It will be rewarding to see the successes they will achieve,” said Mihalis.

The four new recruits will all be supervised by Education & Employability Coordinator Lynne Anderson. Her post is supported by Gannochy Trust, Dr Guthrie’s Association and the Pump House Trust.

Lynne will also supervise Sam’s Support2Thrive service, which will support young people on their road to employment through mentoring and coaching sessions, sector specific workshops and work experiences with local businesses. As well as this, Lynne will oversee the East Lothian Council funded Inclusion Support Service, which supports young people who are not engaging with mainstream school.

Skills for Life changes and expansion

The other part of Bridges Project’s practice team is the aforementioned Skills for Life Team, supervised by Practice Manager Natasha McInninie. The team consists of the East Lothian Council funded Homemaker Service, the BBC Children in Need funded Personal Development Service and the Listening Peers peer mentoring service.

The latter service is also experiencing an expansion following funding from Corra Foundation’s Partnership Drugs Initiative, which complements support from Mid and East Lothian Drugs and Alcohol Partnership (MELDAP). Listening Peers is a service for and by young people who have been impacted by someone’s substance use.

The expansion of Listening Peers sees Neil Maclean move from being a part-time Independent Living Support Worker and a part-time Listening Peers Coordinator to doing the latter role full-time. Nicola Melvin and Stevie Baxter will continue as Independent Living Support Workers, with the former also delivering group activities as part of the Homemaker Service.

All these staff and service changes will take some time for both staff and young people to get used to but everyone at Bridges Project is very excited about this expansion and the impact it will be able to have on young people in the years to come. All staff also look forward to communicating these changes at our Open Day on 13 October, when they will additionally showcase our new website!