shannon’s - Story
I had worked in a few temporary roles with fixed term contracts, but I hadn’t found the permanent role that I was really looking for. I struggled with low self-esteem and depression and that made things really difficult for me. I decided to come on Get on Track to try and increase my confidence and learn to be more comfortable around people that I don’t know.
Before the Get on Track programme I had problems sleeping and this affected my motivation, I guess I became quite withdrawn. The main aim of coming on Get on Track was to help me to find permanent employment in the future.
At the beginning of the course I was pretty quiet and didn’t want to get involved as much, I tend to prefer things where I’m working on my own. It took a bit of persuasion from the athlete mentors for me to step outside of my comfort zone but when I did, I enjoyed the new challenges we were set and I very much increased my involvement within the group.
I was really nervous and initially didn’t want to take part in “interview day” but it seemed to go really well – I just put into practice everything we had worked on during the course. From this point I had more confidence and Philippa said I just continued to go from ‘strength to strength.’
I have really enjoyed the course more and more as the weeks have gone on. I think I have surprised myself by how successful I have been and the amount of progress that I have made.
“At the beginning of the course Shannon was very reserved and reluctant to get involved in activities. She lacked confidence and patience with situations out of her control but through increased involvement and encouragement she proved to herself that she was a very able individual.
Shannon has learned to positively channel her energies and emotions and showed a steady and encouraging progression throughout the course - her expressions and demeanour on completion of the course were unrecognisable from the young lady that entered on Day One! ”
Philippa Tuttiett - athlete mentor
Shannon attended the Get on Track in Blaenau Gwent run in partnership with Tai Calon Housing.