A YOUNG father from Barry has had support from a youth training charity to balance his efforts to find work with his responsibilities as a parent.

Corey Harrison, 18, went to Rathbone Cymru in 2014 seeking help to fulfil his ambitions of working in retail.

Corey started a retail NVQ and was supported into a placement with Halfords, but difficulties at home and becoming a young dad meant he found progressing on the course difficult so Rathbone helped him to find a new placement nearer to his home with WH Smith.

“We worked with Corey to overcome the barriers affecting his learning and found a new placement that better suited his needs,” said Karla Poveda, NVQ assessor for Rathbone Cymru.

Corey grew in confidence and, with support from Karla and Rathbone Cymru’s retail tutor Faisal Malik, his commitment to learning went from strength to strength enabling him to complete his NVQ and gain employment with WH Smith through Jobs Growth Wales.

Corey said: "With the full support from Karla and Faisal, Rathbone Cymru has helped me as a young parent to gain the retail skills I needed to gain employment.

"I love my job and I am thrilled to have passed my qualification."

Rathbone is a National Youth Charity, which provided education and training support to almost 11,000 young people aged 14 to 24 across the UK last year.

“Corey has worked extremely hard to develop his employability skills and experience and we wish him all the best for the future,” said Faisal Malik.

More information on Rathbone is available online at www.rathboneuk.org