REBECCA THIRD: Completing NIDMAR has given me so much more than just a qualification relevant to my Industry.
It has allowed me to change my life personally and continue to be a positive impact on my community with the knowledge on how to influence change, one employer at a time.
I would like to thank Norma, for travelling all the way up to Inverness to present at a forum I attended where I first heard about NIDMAR and immediately inspiring me to apply, and Graham for helping me adapt the material to my industry and unknowingly brightening up my Fridays during the course days. There’s no doubt I would [not] be where I am today without the experience, and I’ll be forever thankful for that.
When I applied to participate in the NIDMAR course, I was with a company who was in full support of my development, believed that the success of their staff contributed to the success of their programmes and felt all round that the service I provided my participants and delivered was the best available in the Highlands at that time. Whilst other NIDMAR course very much solidified the knowledge I’d built up over my years in employability, it was in perfect Harmony with my most challenging employment situation and highlighted to me for the first time the impact poor employers have on people.
I have spent my time in Employability working with unemployed people, developing their skills, and building their confidence to re-enter the world of work. I have come across stories of how uneducated and unsupportive employers have discriminated against staff, stolen their confidence, and left them in a position where they feel unable to contribute further to society. I’ve never yet had the opportunity to address this directly with an employer as my involvement has always come too late in the process and never been able to fully understand or see the gradual decline take place.
During the course, my contract transitioned to a new company who were solely interested in the profit being made rather than the service they provided. They felt my involvement in NIDMAR was unnecessary and not relevant to my role and it was very clear that unless I cut back on the support, I offered my participants I added no value to them. This had a significant impact on my mental health and went against everything I believed. Right about this time we completed the return-to-work module and the impact of employer Culture, policies and how we, as Disability management professionals, can impact that change.
After many failed attempts to do this, I used myself as a case study for the course and thought about the advice I would give as a Disability management Professional and developed my own return to work plan.
I’m now working with a forward-thinking business (in the same line of work) , who value their staff and the people we support and put them first in any decision made, always. They want to see me utilise my new qualification in the work I deliver and are hoping to create social change as a result.