Fedcap’s UK Division Celebrates Placing 50,000th Client into Sustainable Employment

Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom—A 21-year-old single mother who has never been in work has become the 50,000^th person Fedcap has supported into employment in the UK.

Since 2019, Fedcap has worked in partnership with the UK, Scottish, and Welsh governments, local authorities and integrated care boards, to provide personalized employability programs and services that give people the best chance of finding and staying in work.

Now, Fedcap is celebrating reaching its achievement of supporting 50,000 people into work with a single mom who first needed support with her mental health before she could even contemplate looking for employment. Rumaysah Al-Khalil, a 21-year-old single mom, had no experience of working when she joined the Department for Work and Pension’s Restart Scheme at Fedcap’s Staines office a year ago.

“When Rumaysah joined Fedcap she was very motivated to look for work, but over the course of our appointments I noticed that her spark was slowly disappearing,” said Radi Demina, Fedcap employment adviser. “She eventually shared that she was struggling with her mental health due to a breakdown in a relationship and she needed support to find new housing for her and her son.”

Radi introduced Rumaysah to our UK’s Riverside Clubhouse, Fedcap’s award-winning community-based intervention, where she found dedicated support to improve both her mental health and her housing situation.

“I wanted to work but I wasn’t strong enough mentally and emotionally. I was at my lowest when I joined Fedcap. Radi and Clubhouse, made me feel calm and safe,” said Rumaysah Al-Khalil. “They were very patient with me and I’m very grateful for that. I opened up to them and trusted them. They changed my mindset and gave me confidence.”

Rumaysah has accepted a role as an assistant in a local nursery which fits perfectly around her caring responsibilities to her young son.

She added: “My journey has been quite hard, and I’ve been fighting for myself and my wellbeing. When I look back, I’m very proud of the person I’ve become. I’m working at a place that makes me happy and I now have lots of goals.”

“Rumaysah’s story is a fantastic example of how Fedcap is bringing to life our mission of improving people’s economic mobility,” said Christine McMahon, President and CEO of Fedcap. “We support hundreds of thousands of people every year across our footprint in North America and the UK, and Rumaysah is a reminder of why we do what we do. To have reached this milestone of supporting 50,000 people into work in the UK is a tremendous achievement. I’m also delighted that Rumaysah found support as a Clubhouse member. Learning from our Clubhouse offer in the US, the UK team have innovated to develop a unique community to support people facing mental health challenges, with many going on to find work.”

“Rumaysah’s story is just phenomenal. She's a young girl with huge ambition and our starting point with her, as with so many other people, is to help them believe in themselves,” said Brian Bell, President of Fedcap Employment. “We deliver great services for people, wrapping services around them, whether to do with housing, mental health or wellbeing. Of course, we also focus on how to look for a job, but it's much more than filling a CV, it's dealing with the whole person. Some people really need that full wrap-around support and Fedcap provides this for them.”

“There's so many young people now who are not in employment, education, or training, and it's a question of how do we lift them up, so they believe in themselves, gain confidence, experience and life skills?” said Susan Paterson, Executive Director of Fedcap Employment. “Fedcap believed in Rumaysah and it’s brilliant that she’s got a job that she loves, is thriving and is looking forward to the future.”

Fedcap has long recognized the importance of integrating health and employment, innovating in the sector, including embedding a dedicated health and wellbeing team into its UK services.

Fedcap continues to pioneer new ways to support the increasing number of customers disclosing mental health challenges and its award-winning UK-based Clubhouses are helping 1 in 4 members into employment, with 9 in 10 reporting improved mental health.