Meet Peter, North London Area Manager

I started working with young adults with Learning Disabilities in 2012, and joined The Inclusion Project in 2016. 

This was a complete career change for me. Previously I had worked in the financial services industry as an Independent Financial Adviser, and also worked in the training department of a large insurance company.

When I took redundancy about 6 years ago I decided to change career direction completely. 

Because it fills a gap for young adults who have finished school and/or college, who may have lost contact with most of their friends and have little or no social life outside of their family. 

I like the way that in addition to getting Participants out in the community The Inclusion Project brings together different people who make new friends, and in many instances meet up with old friends. 

I became the North London Area Manager because I see it as an opportunity to take the service into an area that would not otherwise benefit from the service provided by The Inclusion Project.

There are 3 areas that I like to concentrate on:

1. In North London I particularly look to encourage friendships to develop. So most of the time 2 or 3 groups will meet together so that there is more opportunity to socialise.

2. At the same time I look to respond to requests from Participants to try something new. This can mean that Participants in the same group have to compromise with their fellow Participants on what activities they do. I believe that this is a valuable life skill to have.

3. In September I started up our evening clubs: On Mondays it is football, Tuesday is basketball, and Wednesday it is Drama. These are all well attended particularly by those Participants who are at full-time school or college, who we might otherwise only see in the school holidays.