Carol counts her blessings after The Learning Link journey

Carol Leslie is counting her blessings after someone else’s journey with The Learning Link led her to asking for numeracy support – a decision that ultimately helped her start a small business.

That was around seven years ago, and the 44-year-old has never looked back.

“Someone I knew featured in The Learning Link leaflet sharing their story and it gave me the push and the courage I needed to take that first step to getting help.

“The team at The Learning Link not only helped me in terms of improving my numeracy learning, but also emotionally.

“My confidence was really low, but I found my sessions were not just about the practical learning, but it almost felt a bit like being counselled through everything that had happened earlier in my learning journey.”

Number dyslexia (dyscalculia) meant Carol left school with no maths qualification and after having children, she found herself struggling to help with homework and dealing with daily accounting, such as bills.

“I began one-to-one sessions with Chrissie, who was able to develop a learning programme personal to my needs. We went right back to basics. I needed visual learning so Chrissie would draw on the whiteboard.”

It was during one of the sessions that Carol shared her passion for photography and how she wanted to turn this passion into a business.

“One day Chrissie just picked up the phone and called Business Gateway and made an appointment for me to go and see them. I went along and was given a grant to help me with the start-up costs. I honestly don’t know if I would have ever had the confidence to do that without the help I received.

“I now look after the accounts myself. I still refer to a ring-binder (my toolkit) of step-by-step numeracy tasks from The Learning Link, for if I need a reminder of how to do something. Even after all these years, it is still helping me!”

Following their refurbishment, the Orkney Library & Archive is hosting an open day on Wednesday 17 May coinciding with National Numeracy Day and providing a golden opportunity for the library to work with The Learning Link to launch Multiply, a new programme aimed at transforming the lives of adults by improving numeracy skills.