The doors to Working Well North Tyneside’s latest hub in Wallsend were officially opened this week.
The employment, health and skills hub has celebrated major success at its flagship hub in North Shields and now Wallsend residents can benefit from the one-stop-shop for advice and support.
A space on the first floor of Wallsend’s Customer First Centre has been transformed to make way for the hub. A move that’s part of the Council’s recent announcement that the Customer First Centre is set to become one of six community hubs in North Tyneside.
Thousands of residents have benefited from the service so far. From accessing jobs with local and national employers to enrolling on specialist training, the expansive offer at the hub is tailored to meet the needs of local residents.
One of the schemes success stories is Yuilla, who fled Ukraine last year with her 8-year-old son and had been learning English to improve her job prospects.
She visited the North Shields Hub after enrolling on a course with Newcastle College and completing work experience at the council.
Her employment advisor was on hand to help and arranged a meeting with Tyneside Women’s Health as they were looking for a finance assistant volunteer.
Yuilla is now being mentored by the Finance Officer and has good prospects of accessing paid employment.
Alongside the Council’s expert Employment and Skills Team, the hub will host partners including Cedarwood Trust, the National Careers Service and North Tyneside Citizen’s Advice, who will be on hand to address wider barriers to employment including debt, physical and mental health, and housing.
Tackling health barriers is a key ambition of the hub as it’s clear that a job with a sufficient income to meet daily needs is vital for residents’ wellbeing.
The hub will create opportunities to meet with Northumbria NHS team, providing wellbeing advice as well as offering ‘How’s your Heart’ blood pressure and atrial fibrillation checks.
Cllr Karen Clark, Cabinet Member for Public Health, and Wellbeing at North Tyneside Council, said: “The success of the Working Well model is something we’re all immensely proud of and I’m delighted that residents now have access to this fantastic service in the North East of the borough.
“More than 4000 residents have now accessed support from our teams and our brilliant partners, and significant numbers of people have gone onto employment, training or volunteering. We’ll see these numbers increase even more as our new hub gets up and running.
“We know that being in good work is better for your health and we’ve partnered with a range of brilliant services and work with employers across the region to make this a reality for our residents.
“The latest hub is a culmination of a lot of our ambitions. From our aspirations for Wallsend’s regeneration to achieving our Equally Well health strategy and I look forward to hearing even more success stories.”
The team will kick start an exciting range of events with a Christmas Job Fair on Wednesday 4 October, where residents can find out more about the seasonal jobs on offer. It’ll take place in Wallsend Indoor Market and is running in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and Reed.
It’s an exciting time for Wallsend as the opening forms part of the authorities ambitious vision to create a vibrant and connected town that will be attractive to residents, visitors and prospective employers.
The Ambition for Wallsend is built around three key priorities; improving the quality of the housing offer, enhancing the appearance of the street scene and public spaces, and ensuring that residents are connected to and well-prepared for good, high-quality jobs.
The Working Well North Tyneside hub will open from 9.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday, walk ins are welcome.
