For the purpose of this case study, and to ensure confidentiality, the young person detailed in the following case study will be referred to as ‘Jenny’.
Jenny is an only child who lives with her dad, after her mum left when she was much younger. As a young child, this was incredibly difficult for her to deal with and she began to lash out – especially at school – and her teachers became concerned about her behaviour. After a bullying incident involving another pupil, the school referred her to Positive Futures for emotional support.
Jenny was initially very shy with the Positive Futures team, not really trusting strangers. This resulted in her not being particularly talkative at first. However the Positive Futures Youth Workers supported her at her pace, and eventually she began to open up and talk more about her feelings.
The focus of the sessions were determined by Jenny, to ensure that she got the most from these as possible. She decided that she wanted to improve her behaviour and make better choices. Working with her Youth Worker, Jenny started to work on managing her emotions so that she’d be better equipped to deal with her feelings or any tough situations she found herself in. The sessions used fun and interactive activities like arts and crafts to help Jenny come up with ideas on how to manage her feelings and what she could do when she feels upset or angry in the future.
After the incident of bullying, the Positive Futures team felt it was also important for Jenny to learn about bullying and why her behaviour in that situation was wrong. She already knew that her behaviour wasn’t acceptable, but she didn’t feel as though she had a way to cope with her anger, so that was something she focused on during her targeted one-to-one sessions with Positive Futures.
It was evident that the one-to-one support from Positive Futures had a really positive impact on Jenny. She is doing much better in school and her Head Teacher has noticed a major improvement in Jenny’s confidence and attitude.
Jenny is just one example of how support that gives children a safe space to talk about their problems and their feelings, can vastly improve their well being.
To find out more about the range of activities and sessions that Positive Futures Liverpool runs, visit our website http://positivefutures.org.uk/.
