Brandon

When Brandon Started with Stride, he had little belief that mentoring would be good for him, and whether he even wanted to engage with the process.

Brandon felt frustrated at the system and other professionals he had worked with. Brandon felt that people never took the time to truly get to know him and how his mind works, as a result of his autism.

Brandon became quite isolated and worked on personal visual effects projects at home. Brandon’s dream was to always go to university, but with the limited qualifications he had, he had given up on his dream.

Against Brandon’s better judgement, he decided to give Stride a chance, and was mentored by the owner, Logan. Brandon realised that the support Stride offers is different, it is non-judgmental, and truly ‘person-centred’. Logan took the time to truly get to know Brandon, ignoring any previous information given, which was entirely the right thing to do in this case. Brandon felt that he was able to turn over a fresh page entirely and grew a great connection / rapport with Logan.

Logan built up trust with Brandon, who was eventually open about his dreams and goals. Logan set out to do everything he could to make university a realistic possibility.

Brandon is now enrolled onto an access to higher education course in computing, functional skills maths level two, and has his sights set on Teesside University to study Visual Effects (BA). In such a short space of time, University is now within reach.

Logan has worked with Brandon and the college he is going to, to ensure that Brandon has all the support needed and has the best environment for him to thrive.

What has really stood out to me, compared to other support services is they genuinely care. It's not just a job. they're passionate about making a difference and didn't give up on me, even at low times, when I'd lost faith in myself. I will be forever grateful that stride became involved in my care and grateful to all stride workers, but especially Logan for the dedication and genuinely caring.

Dan

I was very sceptical about starting my work with Stride, I struggled to trust professionals after past experiences. I can’t begin to list the ways that Stride have helped me, I feel like my life is back on track, and I know that I have all the support needed to get me to where I need to go in life. University finally feels like it might be a realistic goal. I am so grateful for everything!

Brandon

I have had the pleasure of working with Stride Yorkshire in my journey to becoming a more inclusive employer. I knew I wanted to give adults with Autism a chance at working but was worried about my ability to support them. I was fearful of saying the wrong things, how they may manage criticism etc. Stride placed two fantastic candidates in my workplace as admin assistants, and I felt supported through the entire process, the job coaching was amazing, they took the pressure off massively from an employer’s perspective. By the time the support from Stride had finished, our eyes had been opened to the hidden ABILITIES of adults with social and learning conditions, both candidates had their own strengths, and struggles (which we knew how to support). If you are considering becoming more inclusive, and giving somebody a chance that might otherwise be overlooked, I would urge you to get in contact with Stride!

Dot – Trador Print Ltd

I’ve been coming to Stride for the past couple of months and have been in the care of Logan. I’m autistic and since I left school, I’ve been lost, I don’t know what I want to do with myself, job wise and career wise, I failed in college I’ve been suffering with mental health including intrusive and obsessive thoughts brought upon by pure O, along with anxiety and depression and I didn’t have any friends after being rejected and bullied by peers time and time again. It’s been a struggle, but since I’ve been having my meetings with Logan weekly, he’s really helped me, I’m already seeing a difference, he is someone I can talk to about my mental health and help me in my recovery journey, he’s helping me come up with ideas for what kind of job I’d like and he’s introduced me to people I have common ground with and have developed friendships with. We’ve done a lot in a short time and we’ve only just begun, I feel like I’ve got a long way to go in my mental health recovery journey yet, but if anyone’s gonna get me there, it’s Logan.

Adam