GET SET is part financed through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund 2014-2020 and the Department for the Economy.
One to one support
This participant is a young woman who dropped out of university after being sexually assaulted. This assault and the trauma she suffered was a real setback in her life. She developed anxiety, her self-esteem and confidence was rock bottom and she suffered from depression.
When the participant joined GET SET she needed a lot of one to one support to help build up her confidence. She also took part in weekly group work sessions. Week by week her GET SET youth worker witnessed her enthusiasm towards group work and encouraged her towards starting a course in youth work.
Feeling safe and supported
As part of her youth work training she worked as part of a team, planning youth work activities and presenting ideas with other young people in the group. Her GET SET group was a place where she felt safe, supported, connected and an important team member to others. This helped build her confidence, become more motivated and be more hopeful about her future.
On completing her Level 1 qualification the participant decided that she wanted to continue her learning and to build up her volunteering experience in youth work. On completing GET SET the participant progressed on to a Level 2 in youth work course within YouthAction and then on to the Level 4 university accredited course. She plans to continue on her journey into youth work and to return to university to study for a degree.
Building mental health
The participant's GET SET youth worker had a clear understanding of the importance of focusing on her personal development and wellbeing, using LIFEMAPS to build her mental health and wellbeing and one to one mentoring to help tackle the issues and barriers she faced. LIFEMAPS is a toolkit to help build positive mental health in young people. It has been developed by YouthAction NI and uses a youth work approach to building youth mental health.
The participant said:
"I dropped out of university after being sexually assaulted and my mental health was at rock bottom. It was through the GET SET programme and getting involved with youth work that helped. Progressing into the Level 4 course in Youth Work with the help of my GET SET youth worker has been amazing. Thank you so much for this opportunity, I am now more hopeful for the future.”