We recently did an interview with Amy Campbell from The Echo celebrating the partnerships between the People we Support and the Staff who support them.
Participating in the interviews were Nora Riordan, Emma O’Shea, David Wall, Caroline O’Sullivan, Ella Hogan and Olivia O’Reilly.
Below is an extract from the article…
David Wall told that he had been attending Doras, the training centre operated by Horizons for two years. The 19-year-old said that when he first started, he told staff that he had a dream of one day becoming a barista, and that dream has since been realised. David began working at Roots coffee house at Montenotte, operated by Horizons before moving to Roots’ busier University College Cork location.
“I work in Roots café in UCC, deal with a lot of coffee customers, using the tills. It may seem like a lot of work but I thrive on it,” said David.
Caroline O’Sullivan, who has worked at Horizons nearly 20 years, said: “As part of the training centre, when David started here he said one of his dreams was to become a barista. “He started by doing some work experience in Montenotte then he was offered the opportunity to go to Roots in UCC which would be busier, faster paced, so a really good stepping down.”
David said: “From starting out, I never would have had a lot of confidence to have been able to do something like that, but when I stepped out of my comfort zone, when I tried it and did it on my own, I realised I was a lot more confident than what I thought.
“In a way, I was a bit emotional to see my skills develop, because I never thought that I would get this far. It’s something that I will always be happy about. I’m so happy to be where I want to be.
Caroline said that many of the things they do in the training centre are informed by the student.
“We try to be person-centred, allow students to make their own decisions try and support them to achieve their dreams and meet their goals.
“What a lot of the students say when they come in here straight from school is that one of the biggest changes is having to make decisions for themselves because they’re now adults. In school a lot of their decisions would have been smaller. As they’re adults now, they’re the point of contact for any decisions.
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