S was referred onto Yep! by a relative when she was in Year 11 as she was at significant risk of not continuing in education. She was disengaging with school and wanted to leave before she sat her GCSE’s.

S was experiencing significant anxiety around attending school and mixing with her peer group having experienced previous trauma.

Her initial aims were to explore options outside of education post-16. Olivia her Key Worker from CSW Group, made initial contact and built a rapport through home visits, building a relationship.

After a few visits S felt she could open up to Olivia about her past and current anxieties around school.

With her consent, Olivia began to work closely with the school to establish a support package, this included attending a smaller setting and sitting her GCSEs in a smaller environment. With this collaborative working approach and relationship building with S, she felt she could re-engage back in education and access Year 11 more than she could previously. S’s attendance began to improve.

Through 1:1 personal support sessions with Olivia, involving exploring various options and opportunities and working together with the school, S decided she would like to stay on and study in 6^th form. S identified that she wanted to progress into a role that helped younger children, particularly those children who may face the same challenges that S had faced growing up.

S re-engaged in education, completed the rest of year 11 and sat her GCSE’s.

On GCSE results day, S was supported in collecting her results with Olivia attending alongside her. S was also supported by Olivia to attend and enrol onto her 6^th form course.

In addition, Olivia supported S to secure a post-16 bursary which will help with the costings related to S’s course.

Now comfortably settled in Year 12, studying Childcare and Education, S continues to study and will re sit her GCSE’s. S is also very proud that she will be starting her first placement in a local school.

S tells us how she feels about the support she has received on the Yep! project, advising that she would definitely recommend the project to others, to give them some direction and support with where they want to be. S feels she has greatly benefitted from working closely with Olivia to getting to where she is today.

S continues to receive support from a specialist agency for her previous trauma.

“Without Olivia, I genuinely don’t feel I would be in 6^th form now or have been able to get there without her support.”