Louisa: Becoming more independent

9 February 2023

Louisa is one of the lead bakers and servers at Lily&Lime café in Portsmouth. Through Minstead Trust’s apprenticeship programme, she’s learned to work independently and enjoys chatting with customers and other people who work at the café.

When we spoke to Louisa, she told us: ‘I have been doing events catering and baking in the café recently and helping to support other people to learn how to do this. My favourite part of being an apprentice is it has made me more confident in myself. Working at Lily&Lime has made me more independent and has made my social skills a lot better’.

Louisa is on Minstead Trust’s supported apprenticeship programme, one of our work and training programmes for people with learning disabilities, autism and other additional needs. The apprenticeship programme, delivered in partnership with Smart Training and Recruitment, takes on a blended learning approach of in-person and virtual learning. Our apprentices take on paid roles and learn a combination of customer service and functional skills over a period of 12 to 18 months.

Take a look at Louisa making her victoria sponge cake at Lily&Lime: Louisa: Being an apprentice at Lily&Lime

You can find out about some of our other apprentices here: Apprenticeship stories | Minstead Trust