Kiara’s story “I have a more positive outlook about the future”

I joined the Youth Zone as I used to just sit in my room on my phone all the time and it wasn’t good for my confidence. It meant that I stayed in the house and didn’t really interact with people. I felt overwhelmed and shy when I first joined as I didn’t know the layout of the building, or many people and I found it hard at times because my friends took part in the Young Ambassadors programme, so I sat on my own. I started to become more comfortable and confident as one of the staff members, Jo, came over and got me involved in the different activities, but it helped coming regularly as well.  

I love coming now as I feel more confident. It has helped me with my self-esteem, and it feels like a second home, I know that the staff are here to support me and give me great advice. I struggled a lot with my mental health at first because I just felt anxious with trying to make new friends and trying different activities as well as communicating how I felt when I got upset.

I ended up doing wellbeing which helped me to try new activities while working on my communication to help express how I was feeling and set boundaries with people, as I did struggle to say no to people as I felt bad. Now I am able to communicate this and I have made some new friends because of wellbeing.

I have also found that doing sports, especially the Girl Power project, has massively built my confidence because it has showed me not to give up and to be more positive even if things don’t go well. It’s helped me to try new sports that I wouldn’t have tried before and I have really got into playing football as a goalkeeper, but I also play out as well. The support from the sport staff has been amazing as they have helped me to try these new things and pushed me out of my comfort zone.

In the Girl Power project I learned that no matter what age you are you are still able to play professionally if you work hard and don’t let any barriers stop you. It has been very inspiring, and I have a more positive outlook about the future as I am considering doing a career in sport, I am thinking about coaching.

Attending the Youth Zone has helped me to look to the future in terms of my aspirations and helped me to get back into sport and try different things. This is because I have had great support from the staff which has made a positive impact on my life. It also helped with choosing my potential career in sport because I got to speak to an actual player and ask them questions.