A few weeks ago we were approached by an old friend of The Door’s who was embarking on a research project for a Masters Degree in Education. She wanted to look at the positive affects that alternative education provided by ‘Not for Profit’ organisations can have on young people.

Always keen to help out, we arranged for her to spend a couple of days interviewing students and tutors to find out their stories. She now faces the daunting task of transcribing the hours of video footage, and writing up her conclusions.

What was really great was the affect being interviewed had on the three students involved. All of them reflected to both the researcher, and our team, that the thought of sitting in a room with a stranger and a video camera would have sent them running not so long ago. They recognised that when they’d first been referred to The Door, their anxiety and low self esteem meant that they were unable to meet the challenge of doing anything new without a lot of support and encouragement. Often this type of situation would leave them emotionally drained, and they would be unable to cope with the rest of the day or even week.

With the support of Hope Training, they realise how much they’ve grown and developed a resilience which made meeting the researcher an exciting prospect, rather than one that brought dread and fear. Each of them were able to describe their past, present and hope for the future with clarity and confidence. A great experience at the perfect time, when each of them is coming to the end of a transformative year and thinking about their future.