GC Career Story: Jodie Richardson
- Tuesday, July 15, 2025
- Posted By The Growth Company
Early career and motivation
I studied Law initially at university, before going on to study Creative Writing. Following university, I worked in bars and in retail roles, eventually becoming Assistant Manager and then Store Manager for Barnardo’s. I found working for a charity extremely rewarding but I needed to move on for career progression and financial reasons, and so became Store Manager for Toolstation – setting up a brand-new store in Bredbury.
I missed elements of working in the charity shop – working with and creating a team of volunteers, who were often people with disabilities, or people who were anxious to return to the workplace. I missed the satisfaction and reward that came from working with and helping people in this way, and that’s what led me to apply for a role at GC.
I started as an Employment Advisor on the Restart programme in Walkden. Even though I was starting in a new industry, my aim was always to progress, so I made that clear from the start. I went for a Lead position quite early for someone new into the industry and although I didn’t get the role, it made my manager realise that I was serious, and from then on she gave me the opportunities to get to the point where I would be ready. I took on extra responsibilities to prove that I could do the job, and also completed a level 3 apprenticeship in Leadership and Management.
When another Lead Advisor position did come up, I was successful. Then, about a year and a half ago, I was promoted again to a Service Manager role on the UKSPF Support to Succeed contract.
Support during diagnosis
The process of diagnosis was not very straightforward. I had my telephone assessment and was referred for a face-to-face assessment that should have been within 12-18 months. After hearing nothing at the 18-month mark, I got in touch only to find out that they were no longer accepting NHS patients.
I was obviously very upset, and I spoke to my manager about it. I had to go through the different stages and attend the assessments again, but the time was given to me to do this around work. Both of my managers at the time checked in with me constantly to see how things were going and how I was feeling. From the get-go, they were just so supportive and so encouraging. In my current role, I don’t speak to them as much, but I still have very good relationships with them both, and I feel very grateful to them for supporting me with it.
Creating an inclusive culture at GC
I try to be as open as I possibly can about being autistic or any mental health struggles that I might be having on a day-to-day basis, and I think that helps my team to feel like they are able to express themselves in this way as well. We see lots of neurodiverse clients, and my hope is that if we’ve got an open office that our participants will feel comfortable too.
As a team, we’re really trying to do as much as we can to meet their needs, we have a few participants who have a fully remote service, and we offer other accommodations where we can. During Autism Acceptance Month I also organised a day of activities for some of our teams where we had a quiz, watched some videos about neurodiversity, and had a Q&A session.
I became a neurodiversity champion by accident. I initially wanted to join the support group to find a buddy, but was accidentally added to the champions group. I mentioned that it was a mistake, but they asked if I wanted to stay anyway, and I did. We meet once a month and, although we can be prone to going off on tangents, a lot of what we do in those meetings is share our experiences and talk about any problems we may be having, so it does feel like a support group. I’m genuinely really glad to be a part of it, and it reinforces the positive impression that I already had of GC and the experience I've had working here.
I’ve always felt like the best decision I made was to join GC, and that's what I say when I'm interviewing and talking to other people. The changes that come as a result of the neurodiversity champion group are really positive, and it's reassuring to know our voices are heard. I’m proud to work somewhere that doesn’t just talk about change but actually makes it happen by listening to its people.