Resident Lisa has been a Barnet Homes’ tenant for 28 years. She has a passion for supporting people into apprenticeships in her
day job working as an Employment coach for BOOST, and for helping children into Girl Guiding in her spare time, here she tells us why.

“Six years ago, I was reading atHome magazine and there was an article in there about apprenticeships. I looked at the transferable skills I had developed in the past 20 years of being a mum of 5 at home. I was age 43 and I applied! After completing the apprenticeship, I joined the Neighbourhood Housing team as a 0Housing Support Officer. A few years laterI decided to join BOOST as an Employment Coach because having been an apprentice, I really wanted to be an advocate for adult apprenticeships. One of my clients who’s 55 years old, got an adult apprenticeship doing childcare level 2, I’m proud of that.

“My other passion is Girl Guiding. It started 10 years ago when I was a parent of a girl guide, then I became a parent helper, over 10
years I became a unit leader for the Barnet Ewan Hall 7th Brownies and Rainbows. During the pandemic like every other parent
in the UK, I had to work from home, and home school my children. On top of all of that I carried on doing weekly zoom Girl Guiding meetings. We were the only unit in the division to actually run every week throughout the pandemic, through zoom, doing interactive activities with the girls to try and keep things normal.

“In 2021 I received a Jack Petchey Award for outstanding leadership through the pandemic and for giving girls opportunities.
It was one of the highlights of my Girl Guiding career. Girl Guiding plays a massive part in my life, I want to give girls an opportunity to blossom and bloom.”

To find out more about Girl Guides visit girlguiding.org.uk

To find out more about apprenticeships visit boostbarnet.org