Help for Young People

Imagine what you would do if you were not scared? What if you had a life without those self-constructed walls around you? What if those grazes and bruises from life disappeared and you were free to step forward? How would it be if you put down those heavy suitcases of unhelpful stuff you are hanging onto? What if you got excited about what could be, rather than being held back by the risk of what might go wrong? What if you stopped settling for ‘it’s ok, I’ll get by’? How would it be if you prioritised your own happiness over your worries of what other’s thought of you? What if you started to enjoy the journey rather than racing to the destination and feeling underwhelmed when you get there? Imagine if this thing called life is your show and you could write the script, how would you write the script? What if the love you seek was inside of you all the time and you were just to busy or afraid to feel it? What if the biggest risk of all is in fact your not doing what you want with your life?

We believe every young person has the potential within them – unleashing someone’s true potential is like finding hidden treasure. It’s really not buried as deep as you might think – often it’s just hidden beneath the surface, but you need someone to help you rediscover it and help you breath life back into it…

The threat of a “lost generation” for some is quite real although according to Prof. Paul Gregg this is an exaggerated term, what we do know is that there are significant consequences.

Experiencing unemployment in youth can lead to emotional problems and can also reduce a person’s life long earning/career potential, it creates further inequalities particularly between communities, and the financial costs of supporting unemployment; welfare and medical support reach into billions.

Then consider the cost to business and to the prosperity of the UK, imagine trying to recruit from a large pool of applicants with little or no work experience, where will the next generation of leaders and innovators come from? To compete in the ever changing world economy we need to have a bright, educated and skilled workforce.

With nearly 1 million young people unemployed, that is approximately 1 in 5 young people it is likely that we will all know someone in our network who will be affected by this problem, not least those still in education yet to try to gain employment.