Evie’s Story
Please note that the name of this young person has been changed to protect their identity.
“Since Evie has been working with Sarah, Evie has been like a different child. She has eagerly signed up to try new things and has thoroughly enjoyed them. Sarah has brought Evie out her shell.”
- Evie’s mum
Evie was referred by her guidance teacher as she had disengaged from school and was in danger of leaving without a positive destination. Her guidance teacher highlighted that Evie’s social anxiety had made it difficult for her to attend and progress in school.
Sarah first met with Evie and her mother. Evie said she did not want to leave school as she still had qualifications she wanted to gain.
In the first few sessions, Evie refused to attend without her mother present. She was not attending school at all and was very anxious about her future. Evie said she wanted to get back to school while she figured out what she was interested in.
Evie and Sarah sat together with Evie’s mother to create her action plan. Her main goal was to go back to school and achieve five qualifications by the end of the school year.
Evie soon began to attend sessions by herself. Sarah and Evie also developed a positive working relationship and built trust so that Evie felt safe to talk about her social anxiety and try new things. As part of this, Evie mentioned she had been interested in being a lifeguard and agreed to do an Emergency First Aid at Work course with St. Andrew’s First Aid. In this group, Evie came out of her shell and took part in group activities and even did a teaching display on CPR to the group. Evie passed this course and the Mental Health First Aid course.
In their next sessions, Sarah and Evie talked more about getting back to school and wrote up some ideas to bring to her next Child Planning Meeting. At this meeting, Evie advocated for herself and signed up for new qualifications at levels she was comfortable with; Level 5 English, National 4 Applications of Maths and National 4 Business.
Evie started bringing in Applications of Maths work that she was struggling with due to her dyslexia. Evie and Sarah found a working pattern that worked for her, using resources they found online and materials available at Bridges Project.
Evie’s development was also seen in the self-assessments she completed on her own progress. At the beginning of her support journey, she scored herself 49 out of 100 on skills. This increased to 60 out of 100 when she completed her next self-assessment. Likewise, she initially scored herself 28 out of 40 on wellbeing. This increased to 33 out of 40.
Evie has re-engaged with school and is currently doing a mix of National 4 and Level 5 qualifications on a flexible timetable. She is keen to leave school with these qualifications and work in the hospitality industry. Sarah and Eve have begun writing her CV and working on her confidence to interview.
Evie is also about to start an animal employability course, where she will be supporting children with disabilities to ride and care for horses.