Click play to watch Narayan’s story
Twenty-year-old, Narayan from Weston-super-Mare, left college at the age of 18 due to social anxiety.
He started using cannabis to manage his anxiety, but it got worse as he developed a cannabis dependency.
Although he has had brief periods of employment as a mobile phone engineer and in retail, Narayan struggled to stay in work.
As his anxiety and cannabis addiction worsened, he made a claim to ‘Universal Credit’ (UC).
Despite the best efforts of his work coach, Narayan remained unemployed and was referred to the Restart Scheme for support.
Specialist support
Because he was still struggling with anxiety and addiction, Narayan felt nervous about joining the Restart Scheme with Seetec.
After a couple of appointments, he felt ready to make changes and was keen to address the challenges he was facing.
He spoke to his employment adviser about getting some support with his anxiety and cannabis addiction.
Narayan says; “It’s a big life choice to tackle an addiction, I just knew that I had to make a change.”
His employment adviser referred him over to Pluss wellbeing coach, Jeremy, for specialist support around anxiety and addictions.
As a social enterprise, Pluss offer specialist health and wellbeing support to jobseekers
Riddled with anxiety
Narayan’s Pluss support package included group work, 1:1 sessions, telephone support with Jeremy and it made a huge difference for him.
Jeremy tells us; “Narayan was so riddled with anxiety when I first met him, if you look at him today, it’s a different person!”
To keep himself busy, Narayan also volunteered with an organisation called ‘Osprey Outdoors’.
Osprey Outdoors is a people-focused organisation who use the environment to offer a variety of courses and activities for adults.
Having gone six months without using cannabis, Narayan’s behaviours have changed, and he’s learnt to manage his anxiety too.
It’s been a tough and unforgettable experience for Narayan, he is now looking forward to moving on with life.
Narayan’s plan is to get a job in the retail sector, and he hopes that this will fund a big 21st birthday trip to Portugal!
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You can watch Narayan tell his own story by clicking the video at the top of the page.
If you want to beat your barriers and get working, ask your Jobcentre Plus work coach about the Restart Scheme.
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