While Ms McGregor said she loved getting up in the morning to go to work, her son admitted he was not a morning person, but regardless he loved his job.

"I really really enjoy it, being outdoors and just seeing the satisfaction after you have finished ... it's something you can look back on and go, 'well that's a big change'," Ms McGregor said.

Ms McGregor, 55, said she had found it difficult to find a job following the death of her husband.

"I was unemployed for a while after my husband passed away and I couldn't get a job because of my age," she said.

Like his mother, Mr McGregor, 20, also struggled after the death of his father.

"I have depression and anxiety. It's not as bad any more but when I was a bit younger it was heavy because my dad died and it was a very hard thing to overcome. But after a while I decided to pick my feet up," he said.

Both found employment after taking part in a program that aims to teach residents of Housing ACT the relevant skills to find employment.

The social enterprise is delivered by Programmed, a provider of operations and maintenance. It came about after the company entered a contract with the ACT government in 2018 to provide maintenance for housing properties across the territory.

As part of the contract with the ACT government, Programmed was required to meet targets to employ public housing tenants, Indigenous residents and other culturally-diverse Canberrans.

But Programmed also partnered with Uniting Care's Kippax Trade Start, which helped to deliver the maintenance contract through training, while Uniting Care delivered employment through their trade enterprises, such as the Mower Shed.

As well, Uniting Care offered places at its training organisation called SPARK, which both Mr and Ms McGregor took place in.

Mr McGregor said the training program gave him a new lease on life.

"It helped out a fair bit, I overcame my depression and my anxiety," he said.

"I can communicate a whole lot more and I'm just able to talk to people. Because of my depression I couldn't talk to anyone because I was so afraid but now I can talk to people I can understand a little bit more about what I am doing and I'm where I am now."

Ms McGregor is so proud of her son.

"It's so good to see him come such a long way from being so depressed and down and trying his hardest and now, I even have tears in my eyes just the way he was talking ... because he's always been afraid to talk," she said.

Likewise, Mr McGregor is very proud of his mother.

"It's a great experience working with my mum, seeing her working very hard and seeing her come from where she was to now was a great big step up," he said.

"To be honest, it is a miracle seeing her happy now."

Programmed social inclusion manager Lynette Graham said it was empowering to hear the experience Ms and Mr McGregor had with the program.

She said the "people-first" approach was about creating career pathways for those who may not otherwise get an opportunity.

"It's empowering individuals. That's why this program is unique in its own ways is because of our stakeholders and our strong partnership with Kippax," she said.

Uniting Care lead social enterprise manager Cass Johnson said Kippax Trade Start and its enterprises were not just about providing an income but giving a place for people to get experience and become trade-ready.

"That's a big part of what the Mower Shed does, is not only provides an income for people who work but it's a place to get trade-ready," she said.

"It gives them the place to learn job skills of communicating with your employer and all those what we call soft skills to be able to function in the workplace. It gives some work experience. People find it very difficult to get a job if they haven't had a job before."