Gordon, 15

I got referred to Fairbridge by my school. I guess I had a lot of problems at the time. I think I was very close to being excluded permanently because I kept being disruptive and I used to shout at the teachers all the time.

I was also getting into trouble outside school and had a few run-ins with the police. My parents were finding it difficult to handle me and I had to keep going to different services to try and get help.

By the time I started Fairbridge I had been excluded from school so I started coming here regularly and doing lots of the courses and projects and speaking to my Outreach & Development Worker one-to-one. We worked out the problem areas I had at school and at home, and Fairbridge too, and started to set realistic goals for me to achieve.

I did loads of things at Fairbridge that I never thought I’d be able do. I also went on a Venture Trust course because I’d proven I’d grown in maturity and could handle a residential. I went on the tall ship Spirit too for a two-day taster course. It was really good to get away and have the space and time to think about what I’d achieved so far at Fairbridge.

I eventually started accessing outreach teaching and I now go to an intensive support High School on a full-time basis. I now like school a lot more but also am achieving a whole lot more too.

Young person feedback following an Access Course

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you. Although a brief attempt was made after the final challenge, I don’t feel satisfied that I was able to fully explain myself, or to put across what an impact my time on residential had on me.

The past ten or so years, my time has pretty much been spent alone in my room, scared of the world and of myself.

I’d lost out on so much of the world, of myself and of the people I care about from my severe lack of self esteem and confidence and it wasn–’t until the residential that I became aware of just how much I’d let it get out of control.

It was the residential trip that you let me be a part of and, more specifically, the way I dealt with the abseiling that really opened my eyes.

It was something I wanted so badly to do but was absolutely terrified of doing. Not only because of my rather huge fear of heights but, also because I was so scared of making a fool of myself. But I pushed myself and, standing halfway over the edge, I burst into tears because in that moment, I realised so much.

Thinking back on how I’d wasted so much time already, I realised that I’m going to look back on my life in 50 or 60 years and be so disappointed. And I just can’t allow that to happen. But now I realise that things will only change if I, myself, make the effort to change them. This isn’t something someone else can do or something that will come if I sit back and wait for it, I have to do it myself.

I’m starting to take every good opportunity that comes my way, even if it means a ridiculous amount of energy has to be spent. Even if I would rather spend all day in bed, crying . I learned from the residential that if you sit back and wait for opportunities and chances to come to you, you’re not going to get very far so I’m starting to make and build my own. I’m so fed up of passing up amazing opportunities because the thought scares me. The thought that I might make a fool out of myself stops me doing so much so now I’m starting to actively work against that.

So again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to realise this and to look at life through happy, excited eyes once again, I honestly believe that from now on, things are going to get so much better. It’s been so long since, I’ve woken up excited to be alive and I can’t wait to make the most of it. I’m finally beginning to learn that I’m not an awfully horrible person, that the world isn’t going out of its way to scare me and that there’s so much I can do if I truly want to.

So many people have already begun to comment on how happy I seem lately.

Thanks again,

Anonymous (Aged 19)