Lauren Bradshaw, Service Manager for the DWP Peer Mentoring service in GC Employment
On graduating from drama school, Lauren began her career with acting work and then moved into teaching communication skills, English and drama to children. At the same time, Lauren was delivering corporate training around public speaking and presentation skills and worked in event management for festivals.
A summer of festivals led to Lauren moving to Vietnam for 2 years, where she taught English and drama. She then continued her travels, living and working in India, Sri Lanka, Colombia, the Galapagos Islands and Guatemala.
When the pandemic hit, Lauren returned to the UK and did some teaching online. This wasn’t sustainable long-term, so Lauren’s Jobcentre Plus Work Coach suggested that, due to Lauren’s teaching background, she could potentially be successful in a similar role to the Work Coach one.
A GC vacancy, as an Employment Coach on the JETS (Job Entry: Targeted Support) pandemic response service in Greater Manchester was highlighted and Lauren was successful in her application for this role in 2021 and really enjoyed it. This led to Lauren applying for a Team Leader role on the service, and then a Lead role. Lauren was not successful in these applications, but remained very keen to progress in the sector.
Lauren’s manager at the time suggested that she apply for a secondment role of Relationship/Integration Co-ordinator, which involved working with Jobcentre Plus, helping to boost referrals and build relationships. Lauren was successful in her application for this role, as a secondment for 6 months, after which she went back into the Employment Coach role on JETS. Lauren was then successful in an application for a Lead role on JETS.
When JETS was coming to an end as a service, Lauren looked for other roles, both within GC and externally, and accepted a Lead role on the new DWP Peer Mentoring contract in Liverpool City Region. This was a brand new service for GC, and nationally, and Lauren’s previous experience in the Relationship Co-ordinator role helped with this role, which involved working and building relationships with the Jobcentres. This being a new service allowed Lauren to be creative and to work with people with more barriers and wider societal issues. Lauren had left JETS wanting to go into Recovery Services or Rehabilitation as she wanted a more specific sector on which to focus her skill set.
A vacancy for the Service Manager role on the Peer Mentoring team became available in Summer 2023 and Lauren was successful in her application for this role in October 2023.
Lauren explained: "I have always been passionate about helping people, and have always been involved with volunteering projects etc. I am really enjoying working on the Peer Mentoring service as it allows me to be creative, use my life experience and communication skills whilst also supporting people who have been or are struggling. The team are inspirational, and the work we do is life changing, I am proud of our service and the commitment we give. I was really keen to progress at the Growth Company, and I am pleased to have now been successful in securing a Service Manager role."