Cherene’s story and how she found work through atWork Australia

This video can also be found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/14tnPjUNpb4

Meet Cherene

I’m Cherene and I’m doing hairdressing.

I remember walking past and always looking in and being enviable the people in there and I’m like I want to do that one day. I want to do hairdressing and I want to be able to help people and give them beautiful hair.

For support to find work, Cherene was referred to atWork Australia.

I met Terry he came into my life and he has been amazing, I’m very grateful.

He’s very understanding and very supportive of me. He really knows me inside and out. Like it’s crazy how much he’s just really put in the effort to really get to know me and learn my strengths as well as my weakness and he’s really encouraged me and given me that strength and made me believe in myself because he’s believed in me. So I was like oh okay he’s not family and so when someone that doesn’t have to believe in you, it kind of makes you go ahh okay. So it really yeah there’s a lot that I already owe to him. I don’t know not just my hairdressing but just through my growth as me as a person.

Terry, her Job Coach says:

When I first met Cherene, she had just finished her job at the ice creamery and was really looking to fulfill her passion in hairdressing. One of the main points I had to work with was her self belief.

She didn’t have a very good opinion of herself or opinion of her skills. One of the barriers that Cherene’s got, is a an intellect or learning disability, she kept saying that she can’t do the colours, she can’t match the colours and that’s where I had to work on her self belief and instill belief in her that she can actually do it.

Her passion has always been there, the self belief in herself has been the biggest change but but that’s what we do. That’s part of the role, is to to know that person and get a fantastic understanding of them.

Terry came across an opportunity for a part-time Hairdresser with employer, Peter.

[Peter] We needed part-time workers and full-time workers so then we actually reached out to Anthony and Terry to actually try to get the best possible type of workers we can. That we could train to our own needs.

[Terry] Cherene’s got great passion and she needed to work with somebody who could nurture that passion and pull it all in and just make her what she is now by identifying that passion. We identified the passion in Peter, and thought what a great match. She can tuck up under his wing and they can fly away together.

Terry contacted Cherene and told her about the job opportunity.

I was at trade school and I was in there and I was doing all that and yeah Terry actually contacted me so I wasn’t in hairdressing. I was just kind of just finding new feet again at trade school and he contacted me and said Cherene there’s a position going how would you feel about it and I was a bit ‘ah I don’t know if I’m ready’ to be getting back into it and kind of getting down.

Because when I get like that, what happens instead of looking at it as okay, I look at it as well what did I do wrong. I was always the first person to put myself down rather then looking at the positive, it just didn’t happen. Terry was like look Cherene you know I’m gonna be with you through it all and just like me, like more or less, let me help you believe in me again and we’ll be okay.

Cherene trusted Terry so she decided to go for it.

When I got told that I had that position with them I was just like, I think this is the right place that I will grow and I’ll be able to stay and yeah grow as a hairdresser as well as a person because when you’re happy in your job and you’re getting confident in what you’re doing it kind of reflects you as a person. As well it makes you believe in yourself more not only on work commitments but out of work as well.

What advice does Cherene have for others?

The advice I would give someone that’s in the same position as what I’m in with having a disability and struggling a lot with all that. I’ll definitely tell them to never give up, there is always a place that is willing to give you that chance. So everyone is here for a reason and everyone has their own path and I think it all comes down to with needing to believe in yourself to accomplish that path because at the end of the day we can have a lot of people that believe in us a lot because I have a lot. I’ve got my family, I’ve got Terry, I’ve got Anthony, I’ve got Peter and Rosanna, I’ve got a lot of people but if you don’t believe in yourself there’s no point because it’s you that has to get up every day, come to work, keep on going so it’s all really about you just believing that you’re here for a reason and to keep going.

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