A young apprentice has a local college to thank for his step into work.

Kyle Newall, aged 20, from Abberton, near Colchester, started with Colchester-based Catten College in May 2015.

He has a benign essential tremor, a brain disorder that causes a part of the body to shake uncontrollably. For Kyle it affects his hands and he finds it difficult to grip a pen.

Often his writing was ineligible and during school, his stress levels increased, which aggravated the tremor. Sitting his GCSEs was a challenging time and after four attempts, he gained a Grade C in English.

After a short time at sixth form, Kyle started looking for work. In the space of two years, he applied for more than 700 positions.

He said: “I applied for anything and out of it, I got just three calls back to say ‘sorry no’. I did get an interview for one role, but that turned out not what it had been described as.”

On the verge of being depressed, Kyle’s parents encouraged him to have driving lessons which would be good for his CV, too. He passed

and his confidence was given a much-needed boost.

It was then that Kyle came across GMAC – (Give Me A Chance) through the job centre.

The courses covered team building skills, work skills, and would also include a work experience placement. The 16-week programme also helped with CV writing, interview skills as well as literacy and numeracy.

Kyle said: “I thought it would be good and I wanted to gain work practice and to support myself.”

After a placement at Colchester Arts Centre, Kyle’s second placement was at Catten College.

Here, he would complete his level two in Business Administration, including updating spreadsheets, answering the phone and general computer work.

Kyle has never looked back and is currently studying for his level three qualification while working at the college as an apprentice.

Although undecided on a future career, Kyle has shown that despite his tremor, with the right support and advice you can go on to achieve great things.

Established since 1983, Catten College specialises in six apprenticeship courses, including business and administration, customer service, hairdressing, health and social care, child care and a teaching assistant apprenticeship.

Anne Catten who runs the College with her daughter, Bianca, and a third director, Clive Davies said: “We’ve helped thousands of young people from across Essex and Kyle is certainly a success story for us as well as himself.”

Catten College has a vast range of short courses and private courses available at the college or that can be taught in the workplace.

For details, visit cattencollege.com or call 01206 366199.