Help hopefully sorting my life out!

welshmoneylover

I reall think I should go to bed, night night.

kingfisherblue

I applied to the student Awards section at my local council - they gave me a form to fill in after asking me a few questions and it was all sorted for me. The fees were paid directly to the university and the grant was paid into my bank account. It didn't affect my benefits as it was a one-off payment for a specific purpose.

I suggested voluntary work as a way to imcrease your confidence and self-esteem, as well as gaining experience and a reference. Have you thought about contacting your local community centre? They might welcome somebody who will volunteer to show others how to do simple PC maintenance, as many centres are no longer council funded and they have to seek funding from alternative sources. A volunteer means that they can get people into their centre at minimal cost to themselves, and that the local community can benefit from the knowledge that the volunteer has.

DX2

Work needed I don't know if this would interest you at all,I myself am thinking about it at the moment. Parent helper in school? Just an hour or two a day to get back into the swing of things.

You have so much to offer, you just need to believe in yourself again!

work_needed

I am going to do one of the start up courses on OU to give myself a taster of what's to come and hopefully that will grow into something more. Not sure about parent helper, my wife is brilliant at that sort of thing but not me, not yet anyway. I am ok in the car now, even driving my children to school. Most of my issues now are probably social, as I really am not sure how to hold a conversation, completely useless at it. I like the idea of the community centre, might give that a go but again my problem is I go on and on without realising it in a bid to help but obviously not.

Where would I go to find out what benefits I would receive if I give up Incapacity Benefit and decided to become a student?

Again thank you.

jonty1970

For those who need more: How someone made a complete mess of his life:

I know how you feel.
no advice from me, but good luck for the future :beer:

CBR

Good positive attitude and you deserve to succeed.

Have you heard of the Shaw Trust? They are big in our area and really encourage retraining and personal development.

A friend of mine contacted them and enrolled on one the most wonderful training schemes available at The St Loye's Foundation in Exeter.

He was a residential student as he lived over 100 miles away, stayed Monday to Thursday. All meals, accommodation and travel were fully funded and grants were given for any items required in his return to work.

My friend to my surprise achieved so much, studied business studies, aquired fork lift truck licence and numerous other qualifications in his six months there.

And the difference to his confidence and nature even I was taken back by the change in his character and positity.

Also it may be well worth approaching Remploy, although they are not big in our area but I believe they are similar to the Shaw Trust.

Good luck, you will suceed with the correct help and pointers in the right direction.

work_needed

Thank you CBR, looking at the shaw-trust website (w w w . shaw-trust.org.uk (please remove spaces)) doesn't actually mention areas that they operate in. I will contact them and see what is available.

Anyone have any ideas on who I could contact for advice on how my benefit would change. As I have mentioned we know our income will drop but we are worried about how it will effect our children going to Uni and obviously children still living with us. Whatever course I take with education / voluntary work etc. its going to be a long time before I am earning any money (probably never at a rate that will give us a decent living) but personally (selfish I know) it is what I feel I need to do but obviously I wish to reduce the effects on my family as much as possible and finding out how this effects them is worrying me. Also is it just me or is there way to many different benefit offices and none of them seem to communicate with each or understand the benefit system? I can't seem to get any answers