The Blayney Blades Centre had a huge impact on my life long before I joined the Moving on Programme. When I was 17 my mother became pregnant with my brother, after having myself and my 15-year-old sister a number of years earlier this was a huge change for the whole family. She had been working for years and now she found herself a mother with two teenagers and a small baby.
I then became pregnant at the age of 21, I didn’t go to college after school and bounced between jobs and courses. By the time I gave birth to my son, I was a single mother and panic had set in.
“I have no formal qualifications, how am I supposed to provide for my son?”
My mother encouraged both myself and my sister, an early school leaver, to join the Moving On Programme with Blayney Blades. She knew the support we could both receive would be second to none. I can honestly say it was the best thing I have ever done. It helped get me into a new routine, it got me out of the house and helped my son socialise with other children. It also got me in to the right frame of mind to progress to further education.
So again, both my sister and I enrolled in Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT). I started a degree in Applied Bioscience and she started a degree in Event Management. The next three years were a challenge but I became the ultimate multi tasker - juggling motherhood, looking after the house and being a student.
After I completed my degree it was time to find a job, which didn’t go as well as I had planned and so I applied for employment schemes. I did an internship for a secondary school where I started thinking that I would really love to teach and help people, adults in particular.
Not long after I completed my internship I was selected for a TUS scheme and was placed with the Blayney Blades as an administrative assistant. It really opened my eyes to what these ladies do for the people in our community.
“Everyone is welcome to share a cup of tea without prejudice or judgement.”
During my time there, Olive and Lorraine both encouraged me to complete my ‘Train the Trainer’ course so that I might someday be able to teach adults.
As my time at the centre was coming to an end, the position of Assistant Coordinator came up for the Moving On Programme. I was encouraged by everyone at Blayney Blades and by my own family to apply for it. Now with thanks to the Blayney Blades and the support I received, I have a job I love as the Assistant Coordinator of the Moving On Programme.
“Now I actively encourage single mothers who want to go on to further education because I have been there.”
A lot has changed in the way that the programme is run compared to when I completed it, but all the challenges that the learners have are still the same. I assist our learners with the many difficulties they may face around social welfare, budgeting, application forms etc. I am now able to pass on the support and assistance to our learners that my mother, sister and I received from the Blayney Blades over the past 15 years.