Organised by West Lothian Council's Access2Employment service, the event at Livingston Football Club provided employment practitioners from the local authority, third sector, and private sector, the opportunity to share best practice and identify potential opportunities to collaborate.
On the day, a number of topics were tackled, with sessions looking at the different approaches required for key customer groups such as adults over 25, young people, parents and those who face significant barriers to securing employment.
One key session delivered by social policy professionals explored how practitioners can ensure a trauma-informed approach is imbedded into their employment support.
The keynote speech was delivered by international speaker, Mike Stevenson. Sharing his own life experiences with participants, Mike delivered a motivational session, challenging practitioners to explore how creativity, change and possibility can make a meaningful difference to the approach to employability in West Lothian.
Executive Councillor for Economy, Community Empowerment and Wealth Building, Susan Manion delivered the opening speech of the conference.
Cllr Manion said: "The council recognises and values employability for delivering economic growth as well as enhancing the wellbeing of local people. I would like to thank staff in the council's Access2Employment service for their hard work in delivering this conference. The day was built around sharing experiences and delivering impactful moments that hopefully practitioners can take away and use to develop approaches to help more people break barriers that stand in their way to securing employment."
West Lothian Council's Economic Development Manager, Alice Mitchell added: "A massive thank you to staff who organised the conference and to all partners and colleagues who participated. An extra thank you to Mike Stevenson for his keynote speech which delivered several thought-provoking moments for attendees.
We hope we will be able to run this event on an annual basis. Hopefully in 12 months' time, we will be discussing how several points of learning from the 2025 conference have positively impacted the vast array of employment support across West Lothian."
If you are reading this and you or someone you know requires guidance, then please visit the West Lothian Council website where you can find out how the Access2Employment team can help you.
Visit: https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/access2employment
Feedback from participants:
"As a relatively new partner to West Lothian, I found the conference to be a fantastic experience. It was a real pleasure to meet so many people and hear about the incredible work happening across the area in employability. The event truly highlighted the strength of local partnerships and the huge potential we have when we work together. The format of the day was engaging and helped create a warm, relaxed atmosphere - a great setting for connection and collaboration."
Kathleen McLoughlin
Operations Manager
Routes to work
"It was great to be invited along to the conference and represent HMP Addiewell. It gave myself and the team a fantastic insight into what is happening within West Lothian and an opportunity to build our network.
We look forward to the next event were we will continue to build relationships and share knowledge."
Jason Thomson
Head of Rehabilitation
Sodexo government
HMP Addiewell
"A very well organised event which brought together practitioners and leaders to acknowledge success and good practice and then consider collaborative ways to further improve the customer's journey. My colleagues and I made new connections and left with lots ideas to implement in our service. It was time well spent."
Laura Wilson
Adult Learning Manager
West Lothian Council
