"Phase Trust is a place that young people (such as myself) can go to and feel safe and happy..."
Joanne (name changed for purposes of this article) like a lot of young people in our communities today, suffered from high anxiety and was on medication for depression. Due to this and being bullied, she had not been in mainstream education for about two years. When she was referred to the ID Plus programme she had had some home visit mentoring from Phase Trust already and we were told that although she would benefit hugely from the programme, it was unlikely she would actually be able to attend our facility where the programme was run. Joanne had hardly been out of her house or her bedroom for two years. She had very low self-esteem and felt very lonely.
After two home visits, we knew there was huge potential in Joanne, and wanted to help her grow in confidence and eventually make steps towards her dream of working with young children. We offered to give her lifts to the programme and were so proud of her when she overcame personal obstacles to attend on the first day.
After that, there was no stopping her. Joanne attended every day of the programme (one of our best for attendance!) and made considerable effort to face her anxiety, depression and other difficult emotions head on throughout the ten weeks. To see her self-confidence grow through our sessions, team building activities and outings was fantastic and one of the many reasons we run this programme. Joanne went on to successfully complete the ID Plus programme and then to obtain further qualifications allowing her to pursue a career in child care. Amazing!
Joanne gave us this feedback about the ID Plus programme: “I’m going to get the qualifications that I need to pursue my dream job as a nursery nurse, I finally feel like I have a place in this world and I’m not even exaggerating when I say that it’s all down to Phase Trust…. They do whatever they can to help us out, whether it’s a lift to Phase Trust and back, advice, reassurance… you name it and they’ll do their absolute best to help out. Phase Trust is a place that young people (such as myself) can go to and feel safe and happy.”
The ID Plus programme started in 2012 with the aim of working with young people primarily aged 16-19 facing huge challenges in their lives, to support and encourage them to increase their confidence, discover their potential and to move forward into their next steps with new motivation and self-assurance. Through this programme, Phase Trust has supported about 60 young people and seen them move onto college, training providers or apprenticeships.
Other feedback from recent students includes:
“Coming along to the ID Plus programme has given me more confidence and made me less anxious around people.”
“The ID Plus programme has given me more motivation and has helped with thinking about my next steps both long and short term.”
“The activities at ID Plus challenged my social skills, helped me to open up about myself more and made it easier to talk in groups of people.”
To find out more about our ID Plus programme, to refer a young person or to get in touch about how you can partner with us and offer enhancing life experiences to our students please Contact Us.
