Member Article

Cancer survivor re-styles life thanks to training

A Sunderland mum who saw her world turned upside down after getting cancer and becoming unemployed, is back on top thanks to a radical career change.

Lyndsay Thompson, 35, from Hylton Castle, was diagnosed with cervical cancer three years ago and has since battled her way back to health. The whole experience made her look at her life “very differently” and was the catalyst for her brave decision to take redundancy from her steady, secure long term job. Lyndsay worked for Sunderland City Council at the time, as part of the Telecare response team which supports vulnerable adults to live independently.

She said: “I was working nightshifts and really struggling to make it fit around my family life. After everything I’d been through with the cancer, I just decided that if I wasn’t happy in my job I should change it; I felt I needed to take a chance. So I took a redundancy pay-off and we planned to spend it on a deposit for a new house. I then set about thinking about what to do next.”

Lyndsay started looking for a job and had been unemployed for a few months when a conversation with her hairdresser put her on an unexpected path.

Lyndsay explains: “I got talking to a lady who was doing my hair one day in my local salon, Glam. We got chatting about my situation and she ended up asking me if I’d be interesting in buying her salon.

“I’d never even considered hair as a career before but I am quite a gregarious, people person and I knew I couldn’t go back to a desk job so I decided I’d look into it.”

The Job Centre enrolled Lyndsay on a Party Pin-up hair taster course with Sunderland-based training provider, BL Training which then led to her securing a Level 2 Apprenticeship in hair. In the mean time, Lyndsay also took some business advice about the opportunity to buy the hair salon.

Six months on, Lyndsay is progressing well on her apprenticeship and is now the proud owner of Glam Hair & Beauty in Southwick, Sunderland.

Aimee Mcpherson who is Lyndsay’s tutor at BL Training said: “Lyndsay’s story is so inspiring. She is the first to admit that changing from an academic job to a practical role has been a huge learning curve and hasn’t been easy but what she has achieved in such a short space of time is remarkable. It just goes to show that training can be the key to a totally new vocation that can help you fulfil your ambitions.”

Lyndsay, who has two children aged 16 and three, is now expanding the business, which has five staff. She is planning to introduce beauty and teeth whitening services.

She said: “When I took my redundancy money, never did I think in a million years that I’d buy a business with it, especially one in an industry I had absolutely no experience of but the training from BL has helped me achieve that and I’m so grateful.”

BL Training is a member of north east training professional body, Northumbria Learning Providers (NLP). NLP is a network of 50 local training providers that work together to promote, represent and support its members and the training sector as a whole.

NLP works closely with the training sector’s funding bodies including the Skills Funding Agency and the National Apprenticeship Service. Its members deliver vocational training for hundreds of employers and thousands of learners throughout the north east region.

NLP is a not for profit organisation. For more information about NLP and how to join go to www.northumbrialp.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jill Farmer (Dobson) .