Alex, 18, lives on the Longbenton estate in Newcastle. Suffering from social anxiety resulted in them being home schooled, which left them feeling isolated, lonely and fearing others. These complex issues acted as barriers to training and employment opportunities, further exacerbated by the pandemic.

In 2023, Alex became involved in Justice Prince CIC’s Barriers to Employment project, which aims to tackle socioeconomic inequalities and social injustice for the benefit of disadvantaged, vulnerable and excluded individuals and communities living in the area. 

Alex quickly flourished, and their confidence increased. In a short period, Alex demonstrated skills that led to them being employed in a paid trainee role within the project.  

Reflecting on their experience, Alex said ‘I never thought in a million years I’d have done the things I’ve done in this job. It has challenged me no end, but I’ve always felt supported. I feel proud to be involved.’

Sarah Gorman is Chief Executive at Edberts House, a community project in Gateshead that uses local skills to meet local needs. It is a thriving community house working to build local capacity and skills, combat unemployment, provide social and leisure opportunities, and promote health and wellbeing. There is also a young people and families team providing prevention and early intervention support. 

When Edberts House began in 2009, they spent time chatting to people, and worked together to create a warm, welcoming space in the heart of the area. People quickly began sharing about challenges they were facing: poor housing, financial worries, lack of transport and employment, and loneliness.   

Working with GPs, Edberts House has launched a Community Linking Project – a team based at GP services which can support people around the wider determinants of their health. They now works across 24 surgeries in Gateshead and last year supported 3,223 people.  

The Better Health at Work Award is a public health programme, established in 2009. The award specifically targets the workplace as a setting, covering the whole of the Northeast England and Cumbria. 

These regions have some of the worst health outcomes in the country, largely driven by ingrained health inequalities. Lack of good work is a huge barrier and the Award works with regional employers to deliver on a holistic health and wellbeing framework to foster happier, healthier workplaces that support and empower happier, healthier workers. 

With more than 500 workplaces participating and directly reaching 250,000 workers, workplaces has run campaign activities and contributed to an average reduction in sickness absence of 0.4 days per employee.