All About You (AAY) Cohort
We ran a cohort of our All About You (AAY) programme with 6 participants in late Spring/early Summer 2024. Here are their stories: Leon Leon had been struggling with his confidence and was feeling increasingly isolated due to bouts of anxiety, which were particularly evident when he found himself in crowds of people. He was also not sure what he wanted to do regarding further education or employment – he had a place at college to study art which he deferred for a year. When the opportunity came up for him to take part in the All About You Course he saw the opportunity to work on increasing his confidence as well as his motivation and focus. His main goals he set for himself at the start of the programme were to increase his self-confidence, to be able to feel comfortable ingroups of 3 people or more, and to feel comfortable in a social settings with friends and family. During the 8 sessions Leon developed his CV and set some new daily habits for himself including spending quality time with his family, socialising more regularly with his friends, getting up earlier and having a more regular sleep schedule and doing something creative each day. Moving forward, Leon has decided to take his place at college in September and to also look for a part time summer job. When reflecting on his progress he said he has been able to better manage his anxiety, that his confidence has grown from 3 out of 10 to 8 out of 10, he feels he has more focus and motivation and clarity as to what he wants to do next. When asked what he has enjoyed the most about the programme, Leon said ‘having someone to talk to and the time to put a plan in place.’ Progression: Starts a College Course in September, is looking for part-time work and accessing remote mentoring from coach when required before September. Malloy Malloy and his mum, Sharon Malloy had been struggling with filling up his time and talking to people about what he wanted to do at college. He wanted to believe in himself more and be able to ask people to explain to him what he doesn’t understand. He also wanted help to get ideas out of his head and be able to explain it better. He set course goals as getting into the course and talking to someone about his future. During the 8 sessions Malloy developed his CV, and increased self-awareness of his skills, qualities and his personality. Malloy enjoyed doing the creative activities in each session and engaged in the reflective thinking questions posed by his coach using WhatsApp following each session. He also developed new sleeping habits, set new boundaries and times for his friends to contact him and said he felt much better for doing this. In a recent college interview, he fed back to his coach that he felt more confident and comfortable to express who he is and to ask questions. Malloy particularly enjoyed learning new techniques for understanding words relating to his strengths. He says “I am now more confident getting my thoughts out when talking to people and I’m doing this much more frequently, and this is real progress for me” When asked what he enjoy most he said, “the whole course, I’ve waited 2-years for something like this”. He said being able to draw a sentence and then this drawing would become a sentence and I would read off that basically”. When asked what he found hard he said “doing the work, but once I got into the routine I found it easy. Getting started is the most difficult thing for me”. Moving forward, Malloy says “he is starting college in September, doing that for a year studying maths, English, business and sports and after that I can go into an ICT course in Maidstone at Mid-Kent to get my career off” Malloy says everyone should go for this course, there are no down-sides and 8-weeks is not too long and not too short”. Progression: Starts College Course in September. Accessing 30 minutes mentoring support between July – September to help him stay on focus. Finley Finley started the course with low confidence and communication skills. Observation of his first session showed engagement with his coach and, when encouraged, he talked openly about what he wanted to do. Finley chose to progress into the 26-week work ready course offered in Ashford Gateway before completing AAY coaching. His mum said “she’d noticed an improvement in Finley’s confidence when accessing AAY coaching Progression: Ashford Gateway 26-week work ready course. Reece Reece started the course with low confidence and showed commitment to doing the course. Observation of his first session with his coach showed, when encouraged, he could talk openly about what he wanted to do. Reece chose to progress into the 26-week work ready course offered by a provider in Ashford Gateway before completing AAY coaching. Progression: Ashford Gateway 26-week Work Ready Course Lily “I came into the course at a time of “metamorphosis in my life. I was and am actively seeking ways to improve myself and the way I see myself and the world around me. I had gotten to a place where I didn’t have a lot of “me” left and I simply didn’t recognise myself. And so regardless of how hard I may find it to put worthwhile effort and love into myself, I knew that I had to do something. Initially that was purely motivated by love for my children, my partner and the life we all want to lead together but throughout the process I have learnt to be mindful of how taking care of and nurturing all those things means that I need to be mindful of caring for and nurturing myself, too. Ultimately, “All About You” has been something that has greatly furthered my ability to be mindful of myself and about myself. There are so many things I
