A SINGLE mum of four who worked at Solihull Hospital has been handed a top Prince’s Trust award.
Cherelle scooped the Homesense Young Achiever Award, which recognises a young person who has overcome barriers to succeed in work, enabling them to build a more stable and fulfilling life. at the The Prince’s Trust and TK Maxx and Homesense Awards.
After several false starts with The Prince’s Trust – signing up for programmes, then panicking and talking herself out of attendance Charelle had the courage to attend a Prince’s Trust NHS programme in 2021.
After completing the course she was offered a Health Care Assistant role (HCA), which she started in early 2022 at Solihull Hospital and has recently been promoted to a theatre support worker.
Cherelle said: “It’s an amazing feeling! I was surprised when I was told initially – it took a bit of time to sink in. My girls are so proud of me, which means the world!”
The awards recognise young people who have succeeded against the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.
Cherelle grew up in Birmingham and faced multiple challenges in life including witnessing domestic abuse.
When she was 14, Cherelle attended college and completed several courses and by the age of 20, had her first child. At 27 years-old, Cherelle had four children but was now a single parent.
It was at this point that Cherelle wanted to concentrate on starting her career, showing her daughters that with hard work anything is possible, even without GCSE’s.
Cherelle always had a desire to help people and dreamed of being a nurse. She’d known about The Prince’s Trust five years earlier but at that point, she didn’t have the confidence to apply for a Prince’s Trust programme, let alone work in the NHS.
Cherelle said: “I soaked up all the information while on the programme and my confidence slowly started to improve – I realised I could do this, I was good enough, I did have the social skills, I started to see myself as an HCA.
“In order to apply for NHS roles I needed official ID, which I didn’t have as my provisional license had expired. I was worried about the cost of purchasing this.
“The Prince’s Trust were great, as they suggested I apply for a Development Award that would cover the cost of a new license. It made a huge difference, as it would have been a struggle to find the extra money myself before starting work. The Trust also paid for the comfortable work shoes I needed too.”
