Hailey’s Story

The Listening Peers Coordinator, Neil, met with Hailey before matching her with a Mentor, Jessica. Their first sessions were quite unproductive as Hailey did not really talk about anything and was only giving one word answers. Jessica therefore chose to talk about school to find a common ground and this seemed to help Hailey engage more in the conversation.

 After about three meetings, Jessica started to get to know Hailey. Jessica also started to act as Hailey’s Mentor in the Art Group, which helped Hailey. In their next one-to-one meetings, Hailey began openly talking about social norms with regards to online safety and social media platforms. Hailey was very open about how she felt and how she could set boundaries with people that wanted to become her friend.

 Following Jessica and Hailey’s first review and evaluation, Hailey indicated that she felt directly supported by Jessica to improve her mental health, self-esteem and confidence. In addition, she also felt that her Mentor had helped her to improve her socialising skills and her ability to talk more openly and get on with her peers. This became more apparent as she openly talked with Neil during this process and seemed less socially awkward.

 During a few mentoring sessions after their first review, Jessica helped Hailey with making choices for going into S4. Hailey was still unsure about which subjects to pick but Jessica worked with her to look at potential careers. This helped Hailey identify that she may want to work with children in some capacity.

Jessica continued to advocate for Hailey, which allowed her to get on with school and her peer groups. Jessica also told Hailey about her own lived experience of dealing with the exact same issues as Hailey at school.

 Hailey started to make a strong bond with Jessica and even began planning social activities. This was something that she had not really done before with her peers. As a result, Hailey’s confidence grew and she became able to interact in a social setting without feeling as anxious as before.

Hailey continued to participate in the Art Group and attended a jewellery making course along with an animal care course at Bridges Project. This further improved her social interaction skills. On most occasions, she was also supported by Jessica, which gave Hailey a personal contact who she could openly talk to. This in turn made it easier for her to interact with other members of the group, which is something she would never have thought was possible at the time of her referral.

 Hailey and Jessica continued to plan activities together, such as going for local walks and going for coffee and exploring shops at the local shopping centre. As it was clear that her self-esteem and confidence had grown significantly, Hailey soon did her second evaluation of the mentoring support. The evaluation clearly indicated that she had become significantly less anxious and that meeting with Jessica had had a direct impact on many aspects of her wellbeing.