Moving to a new town can be a daunting task for anyone and for one #Focus5 young person it created quite a bit of disharmony. By her own admission, our young person isn’t the most sociable but that didn’t stop relocating from a large city to a small town in Devon from being a challenging process. Simple things like getting to college had become major irritations for her; she was well and truly out of her comfort zone.

Our young person was beginning to feel completely isolated and her attendance at college had plummeted to 6%! It was clear a lot of work was needed to help improve her mood and to get her back on the right path. Our key worker supported our young person to build her confidence and became the voice she needed. Getting our young person into a new college was a difficult but necessary process but she is now enjoying life and can boast 100% attendance.

We have witnessed a huge transformation in our young person, and she has come a long way from shy teenager we met at the start. She worked hard to develop a CV that sold her skills, and she believes this was critical in her getting her job. So not only is she now back at college, she has a job, and she has also started modelling too! Our young persons future career lies in hairdressing as she is loves seeing a positive change in people. For her, hairdressing is more than just a haircut, it is a process where she can give someone the gift of confidence. Our young person truly believes that anyone can become a new version of themselves, as she says, “it doesn’t matter who you were, you can always be somebody else.”

“It felt like people understood me in my previous college/home and here, it felt like no one understood.”