Silent Cuts Wins Lottery Funding for Training and Jobs Programme
Mainstay DRP’s Silent Cuts salon in Downpatrick has been awarded £15,791 from The National Lottery Awards for All programme to deliver a new training and employability programme for adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults, starting this year in our sensory-friendly community salon.
This funding creates meaningful opportunities for people to gain skills, confidence and real work experience in a supportive environment.
Silent Cuts, our sensory-friendly social enterprise salon, was developed to remove the barriers many people face when accessing everyday services. Designed as a calm, low-sensory space, it offers both regular and one-to-one appointments to meet individual needs. It has already made a positive difference to many of the people and families we support.
With this new funding, Silent Cuts will now also deliver a structured training and employability pathway.
The programme will provide:
- A dedicated Support Coach working alongside participants
- Structured salon training and real customer-facing experience
- Tailored employability support to help individuals build independence at their own pace
Participants will work in a live salon environment, gaining practical experience and developing workplace skills that can support future employment opportunities.
We would like to sincerely thank The National Lottery and National Lottery players for making this project possible.
Find Out More
If you would like to find out more about the training and employability programme, please contact Nicola or Emma at the Community Hub:
Telephone: 028 4461 7184 (Option 1)
Email: emma@mainstaydrp.org
Email: nicola@mainstaydrp.org
