“Project SEARCH has been life-changing for me”

17 June 2026 - We caught up with last year's Project SEARCH interns

Last year, 18 young adults with learning disabilities and/or autism enrolled in Project SEARCH at King’s College Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH).

Following the year-long internship programme, where young adults combined work experience in a hospital setting with the final year of their education, 11 interns secured paid roles at the Trust.

One such intern is Lola James (pictured above). Lola became a bank worker in the Children’s Health department at King’s College Hospital following her Project SEARCH graduation, and said that the internship scheme has helped her to become more confident.

“I help on the Children’s Health wards by answering the phones, booking outpatient appointments and booking transport for patients,” Lola said.

“I enjoy working on the wards because of the lovely people I work with.

“Following Project SEARCH I am more confident working as part of a team, and I can now confidently deal with queries.

“I would recommend Project SEARCH to other student as I found that it helped me massively.”

Scarlett Mantle is another former intern who is now a Healthcare Assistant (HCA) at PRUH (pictured below). Scarlett enrolled on Project SEARCH after hearing about it from her careers adviser at North Kent College, and says that being on Project SEARCH has been life-changing for her and has made her happier in herself.

A few months after graduation, Scarlett used the skills she gained on her year-long internship to secure a permanent role on Acute Medical Unit 1 (EAU), having previously worked there as one of her three rotations whilst on Project SEARCH.

“My typical day involves an initial handover from night staff then helping patients out of bed and asking if they want beds cleaning and whether they want a wash,” Scarlett said.

“I can do blood sugars, observations, and one-to-ones where I monitor individual patients and help to feed patients that need help.

“I love my role. I love helping people and I am proud to work at PRUH.”

Scarlett commented on how taking part in Project SEARCH helped her to become more independent, and become more confident in her abilities.

“Project SEARCH has been life-changing for me,” Scarlett said.

“Dave King and Daisy Seymour took the time to get to know me and learn my strengths and weaknesses. I mainly lacked confidence so I was placed on rotations to help me with my confidence and communication.

“Certain roles involved talking with patients which forced me to communicate and my development was charted so I knew where I had to improve. This gave me confidence – seeing what I was doing well and made me happy.

“My favourite part of Project SEARCH was feeling I could be myself at last.”

Scarlett’s development whilst on Project SEARCH was also seen at home, with her mother and father remarking on her personal growth during the internship programme.

“We’ve seen Scarlett blossom,” Emma Yates and Graham Mantle said. “She’s maturing, gaining independence, and developing vital life skills every day.

“She’s approaching life with a new sense of confidence that we hadn’t seen before.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Dave and his team and everyone at PRUH for the unwavering support and encouragement they’ve given Scarlett.”

Project SEARCH continues to thrive at King’s, and a further 19 interns are taking part in the internship scheme this academic year (2025-26).

To deliver Project SEARCH at the Trust, we partner with South Bank Colleges, Lambeth Council, London South East Colleges, Bromley Council, Unity Works, Bromley Mencap and the charity DFN Project SEARCH.

Learn more about Project SEARCH at King’s.