Supported employment

DFN Project SEARCH is a one-year transition-to-work programme for young adults with learning disabilities and autism who are in their last year of education. It takes place in a real business setting so you can really get comfortable in the work environment, with on-the-job support from experienced job coaches.

Before you even begin the programme, we’ll have a partnership set up with an employer organisation. This means that as soon as you’re ready, you can begin the internship opportunity in one of the employer’s departments, with support from your job coach. 

We’re currently delivering DFN Project SEARCH internships with:

In connection with a college, interns spend 70% of their time with a host employer supported by a job coach. By the time you’ve completed your year as an intern, you’ll have the knowledge, skills and experiences to make your career goals happen.

We have a large group of disability and autism supportive employers on our books, or we will work with you to find something near you that suits your ambitions.

This is a special pathway for people aged 16-24 get their career plans started when they leave college. You will be supported by a tutor and a mentor, who will work with you to plan learning activities and real work experience to give you a boost along the way. United Response run several enterprises where you can gain work experience, including cafés and an online merchandise store.

After a year of this, your next steps could be moving directly into employment, onto a supported internship or further training opportunities.

If you’re already in work, we can support you and your employer, helping you to succeed in your role. This doesn’t cost employers any extra because of the government Access to Work scheme.

First, you’ll meet one of our job coaches, who are kind, caring people whose no #1 priority is to get you your dream job! They will chat to you about your previous education and what big ideas you might have for working. They might also like to talk to people you trust, like family or friends.

We’ll write a plan with you to break the journey towards employment into small steps.

There might be new skills and behaviours that we can work on together to help you succeed at work. Some employers have mandatory training to complete before you start, so we’ll work on that too.

Depending on the programme, we might have an employer ready to go for you or we will help you search for opportunities. Once you arrive, we’ll be on hand to support you and the employer to overcome any tricky situations. Some job coaches are based in the same building as you!

Many of our roles are for a fixed time – perhaps 6 months or a year. As this comes to an end, we’ll work with you to get ready to apply for permanent work.