Finding me

Harrison 7 years old

I came to Young Gloucestershire and I did not like being away from my mum, and I did not like to leave the home. I was not going to school, and my confidence was really low. And I stopped playing football.

My Youth worker met me and my mum at her office to start with, and we played Jenga, and I showed her my special magic trick. My mum let my Youth Worker know that I prefer to be outside, so for all our other sessions we met in the park. My Youth Worker was not very good at football, so I taught her how to play, but her skills didn’t improve much. I was shy at first but once I started to trust her I showed her all my best tricks. I needed my mum quite close by at the start of the sessions, but by the end I was happy to be in the park with my Youth Worker on my own. My Youth Worker even managed to help me realise that I am okay to be in the “big Park” with other children, which is something I could never do before.

I felt I could be myself around my Youth Worker and we would make up silly dances, and we would do silly drawings with chalk on the playground floor, and this helped me to describe how I was feeling as I struggle to do this. My Youth worker saw in me all my best qualities, she said I had a great sense of humour and was incredibly competitive. We laugh a lot together and she listens to
me, and I feel I can be myself. We are awaiting my EHCP, but my confidence has grown and hopefully this will help me transition to a new educational setting.

Young persons mum said “Kelly was amazing with Harrison. He doesn’t form relationships with other adults very easily at all, but Kelly was able to connect with him from day 1! Harrison would shy away from parks with other children. Kelly helped him see that he could do this. She brought joy at a very difficult time! Forever grateful”.