A future ahead

Young people with a chequered past can turn their lives around and look forward to a promising future with Headspace. ESVAGT offers support.

Along with a dozen other large local companies, ESVAGT has chosen to support the local division of Headspace in Esbjerg.

Headspace offers anonymous and free advice to children and young people aged from 12 to 25; young people who need to be given another chance or a push in the right direction.

For ESVAGT, it was important to follow up on its commitment to support the project with real action, which is why two candidates from Headspace have already been on work experience.

“We are somewhat side stepping our normal employment policy but in for a penny, in for a pound,” says Nick Vejlgaard Ørskov, Head of People/HR for ESVAGT.

Stefan Eriksen from the Headspace programme was employed on work experience after a thorough interview with captain Jann Bach from the crew change vessel, the ’Esvagt Beta’:

“Our starting point was the desire to take our share of social responsibility. This, however, had to be on terms that the crew of the ’Esvagt Beta’ could agree to. Jann and Stefan had a good talk. Stefan introduced himself and was open and honest about himself and his past,” says Nick Vejlgaard Ørskov.

This was something that all parties were pleased about, explains Jann Bach:

“Stefan was completely open about his past, first to me and later to the other crew members. They accepted his openness and his past very well. We had discussed it thoroughly before Stefan came on board and everyone agreed that he deserved a new chance. This was not something they said lightly; they really wanted to do this and took very good care of Stefan. I almost thought we have a crew of nursery nurses on board,” says Jann Bach.

He points out that the crew of the ’Esvagt Beta’ could tell that Stefan was going to take this second chance very seriously:

“He approached the opportunity with gusto, humbleness and hard work. He might not have had it easy up to now but he wanted to create a new life for himself and has done well to take himself out of the rut. This is something that the entire crew respected,” says Jann Bach.

The short work experience intro period went so well that it was extended and eventually replaced by a stint at the Søfartsskolen (Maritime School) in Svendborg. On 1 January, Stefan Eriksen started work on the ‘Esvagt Capella’ as non-able bodied seaman, where he still works today.

Stefan Eriksen has read and approved the article but does not wish to contribute to it.

Facts

Stefan Eriksen is not the only youth ESVAGT and Headspace have worked together to help. Jann Bach and the crew of the ’Esvagt Beta’ have just started a similar process with a new trainee.