Lee Howland

joined the course after having a turbulent year. Lee had left the Navy after some personal problems and lost a lot of confidence.

When I first met Lee he told me how he had become ashamed of himself and what he had done and wanted to join the course to do something positive for himself and to help him start to like himself again.

Lee started very shyly but soon became a very popular member of the group that others would turn to for advice and guidance.  Lee's confidence grew, especially on residential and his quick wit and sense of humour became apparent to the group.  Lee soon became the person to lift spirits and help others feel better if they were upset.

Lee enjoyed residential so much that he decided on working towards becoming an outdoor instructor.  Lee has gained employment at an outdoor centre in Milton Keynes and spent a week of his work placement working for Foundry Mountain in the Peak District with a Prince's Trust Group from Doncaster College.  Lee received positive feedback from the fellow instructors and this again gave him a massive confidence boost.

Lee is now much happier with himself and is proud of his time on the course.  His confidence has grown massively and his natural maturity made him become a leader for the group.

Siobhaun Layne

came onto the programme as a referral from the leap programme within the college. Siobhaun was unsure of which direction to head as she had always felt that the RAF would be her chosen career route but after failing on the level 2 Public service course she was unsure.

At interview Siobhaun found it near impossible to establish eye contact and found talking about herself difficult. Siobhaun was very low in confidence and could not recognise her own skills and abilities.

Progress was made from the very early stages of the course, on residential it was evident that Siobhaun was natural gifted for all things active and sport like and with a little encouragement and support she took a leadership role with much positive feedback through the review process.

Siobhaun's confidence continued to rise and despite being the youngest member of the team she took a lead role in ensuring that fundraising was a success, with her 100 % attendance and new found motivation the team began to rely on Siobhaun.

With the aim of the RAF or Police force Siobhaun elected to complete her work placement weeks at several youth clubs across Milton Keynes with the aim of further increasing confidence and gaining experience of leadership and working with young people.

Siobhaun's plans had been to return to college to complete a GCSE course in September as she believed this would support her application to the RAF or Police force, unfortunately she was not offered a place on this course and despite her upset she did not give up. Siobhaun made the decision that her work placement had be so successful that she would look into options within the youth work sector. Much research was done into course and her work placement offered her the chance to continue to volunteer with them and possibly even complete an apprenticeship. This is an option that would not have seemed possible before due to Siobhaun's low confidence levels.

Siobhaun changed a phenomenal amount over the 12 weeks and has left the course with high levels of confidence, new found direction and sense of achievement.

John James Boomer

started the course being referred due to having low motivation after being turned down for the number of jobs he previously applied for. John was enthusiastic to start the course but had low levels of literacy and numeracy. John started the course with an existing injury which heavily restricted his movement with one arm.  As the weeks progressed John continued to work hard and develop himself to ensure that he got the most out of the 12 weeks. John really excelled during the work placement weeks demonstrating that even with his disability he was as valuable if not more so as any paid employee. John received very positive feedback from his work placement supervisor which in turn earned him a paid employed post within the organisations. John is still working in the organisation setting a very high standard for other workers.