The Youth Engagement Officer,  provided me with great  encouragement and support as well as sharing  great personal development techniques and resources.  He too was also great at getting you involved  and towards the end of my time on the Ability programme, he invited me to take part in his Informal / Non Formal Outdoor education group. This too was a fantastic group, being part of this again further grew my ability to venture out from home and meet new people. It was a very relaxed , helpful and supportive  atmosphere. We discussed how anxiety effected our lives and he thought us strategies and techniques  to help ease these struggles. Jerome used nature and the Outdoors  as an anchor to bring us back to who we really are and how we cope with stressful situations. He also shared valuable awareness, mindfulness, meditation and visualisation exercise which I still use.  Jerome also introduced  us to valuable outdoor education and psychological   theories such as experiential learning, pedagogical approaches, personality development which was very interesting. 

 

 Overall, I am a stronger individual who is now more confident about myself and able to deal with the external environment a lot better than I was before the Ability programme.

 

With great Thanks,

D.

The Ability Programme has been so beneficial to me and I've enjoyed this programme so much. The Ability Programme helped me with my mental health and gave me hope for the future. Being a part of this amazing programme helped me to discover new abilities and talents I have, as well as getting to connect with other people on the programme too. I got to work with an occupational therapist who was very kind and encouraging. She helped me a lot with finding a structure and routine, as well as helping me to set goals and to achieve those goals. 

 

The Personal Development Officers were very kind and helpful too. They were so friendly and they encouraged me a lot and would always find workshops and courses that were of interest to me. They also helped me to get involved with groups of people doing a variety of activities like yoga, baking, knitting and doing virtual quizzes. 

 

I also enjoyed working with the Youth Engagement Officer who organised outdoor activities for me to do with other people. Jerome has such a positive uplifting energy, it's contagious! You always felt great after working  with him.  I enjoyed the different walk routes he had organised and I also really liked the personal development, mindfulness, visualisation exercises he did with me. 

 

The Ability Programme has improved my mental health and wellbeing so much ever since I joined and in strange times like a global pandemic, it has helped with the virtual connections. 

 

I have loved being a part of this fantastic programme and connecting with others along the way. 

 

S.