Healthier Working Futures

Healthier Working Futures was an exciting new partnership of health, care and third sector partners who received funding from the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. Following a competitive application process, we were the only project to be selected in Leeds and one of just seven projects across West Yorkshire.

Download a copy of the Healthier Working Futures Impact Report

The aim of the project, which ran for a year from November 2021, was to help young adults aged 16-25 to develop the confidence, skills, interest and insight to enable them to take advantage of fulfilling employment opportunities in the health and care sector. This is a rapidly growing sector and one where there are numerous job vacancies from entry level to management and leadership roles.

The project’s innovative model was based on a partnership approach that created a joined-up pathway from engagement, through job readiness and coaching to paid employment.The project was co-ordinated by the Leeds Health and Care Academy, a ground-breaking collaboration of health, care and university partners who design and deliver collaborative and transformative learning and development opportunities for all health and care staff across the city.

Leeds Health and Care Academy was a delivery partner for the project, together with Lighthouse Futures Trust and the East Leeds Project. We brought KIOSK, our mobile makerspace, into the mix as a way to engage the young people in early-stage conversations about their futures, using creativity to open up group discussions around care, collaboration, decision-making, and individual and collective agency. Using KIOSK as a platform and provocation, the young people took part in workshops hosted by our team of artists, who led them through the process of creating an immersive audio-visual installation.

Healthier Working Futures engaged 961 young people who are unemployed or economically inactive, particularly those who face multiple and diverse barriers to employment. Over 230 of them were able to achieve a specific outcome including finding a job, further training or education, or an accredited qualification.

Thank you to artists Ellen Burroughs and Jo Byrne who devised the KIOSK workshop for this project, and all the artists who worked with us during the programme: Ellen Burroughs, Paul Digby, Oliver Getley, Kevin Hickson, Alex De Little, Eve Miller, Kiu Yu Mok, Herfa Thompson, Sunny Vowles