OUR STORIES

From Anxiety to Leadership: How Waterside Helped Me Become a Confident Young Leader and Passionate Volunteer

I’m 17 years old and  a Young Leader at the Waterside Centre. Young Leaders at the Waterside are young people who represent youth work, youth programmes and Berkshire Youth as a whole through volunteering, both at the Centre and in the community.

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I first came to Waterside on 14 January 2022 and that summer I became a Young Leader, before I came to Waterside I was very anxious and had no self-confidence at all.

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I’d been that way for a long time, even as a child. But when I started secondary school it became even worse especially with COVID happening through a lot of it.

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After COVID my anxiety was a lot worse, and this meant I struggled to be around people.

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The first time I came to Waterside, I came to try out climbing – because at that point I had stopped doing anything outside of school, but deep down I knew that I wanted to do something new, and it sounded cool.

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I remember that first session in so much detail. I was terrified.

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Kelly will often remind me, of how I didn’t speak to her that first session because I was still incredibly shy and anxious.

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This carried on for a while, but the youth workers were nice to me. Their encouragement made me feel safer and more welcome.

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In particular, I remember when Kelly encouraged me to get more involved in the Centre and told me about an opportunity for volunteering. She was so persuasive, and made it sound really fun. This was the community Domino event. And I loved it so much that I asked about other opportunities volunteering and I agreed to become a Young Leader.

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This was also the start of the summer that changed my life.

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I participated in the youth activities in the afternoon for myself but in the morning I also helped out with the Kids Club and I gained so much confidence in myself.

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This was because I was thrown in the deep end, doing things like being a buddy to younger children, led activities, and entrusted at times with the set of youth work keys.

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The belief that the youth workers had in me and my ability to be a Young Leader helped me to actually believe in myself.

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Since then I have spent a lot of time here at Waterside and with the youth workers, and I continued to grow as a person, gaining more and more confidence and trust in myself.

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I have completely changed as a result of being a part of Berkshire Youth and this amazing place. I dread to think of where I’d be if I hadn’t come here.

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I am now a student at Sparsholt College, doing outdoor adventure education and I’m really enjoying it. I would never have done this if I had not come here and taken part in paddling and climbing, which is crazy.

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Usually climbing and paddling activities are really expensive. However here, the cost was affordable for me to do it every week instead of just as a one off.

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Doing these activities so often, helped me to find my confidence.

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It also helped me to discover my passions, and has helped me to figure out my future career options. I’m interested in pursuing youth work further because I know how important it is and how it makes such a huge difference to young people. Especially those who like me, needed it more that I knew at the time.

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The work of Berkshire Youth is so important, and my story is just one of many successes.

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There is still more to be done. And more young people to be empowered, encouraged and supported to know themselves and achieve their potential. Just like me.

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Without activities and opportunities like the ones we offer here at Waterside, young people will be left to face challenges alone, and being isolated means that they won’t get the support that they need and the chance to embrace amazing transformations for themselves.