Katie Jamieson & The Prince's Trust Team: A Case Study

Katie was referred by Project Scotland to the Youth Opportunities Hub that the YMCA runs. Upon her arrival, Katie presented as a particularly shy individual with some reservations. For example, she was outright unwilling to tackle group work due to a lack of confidence in her ability to interact with others. When asked by a youth worker at the Youth Opportunities Hub whether or not she feels equipped to work, Katie stated that she felt “probably ready for it” – an uncertain answer. When informed that taking part in the Prince’s Trust team program would help build her confidence and shift her answer to a “most definitely ready to work.” Katie agreed to take part in the program for her own personal development. Immediately it became quite apparent to not only the staff team but the team as a whole that Katie was a gentle soul who wore her heart on her sleeve. She was quick to share her emotions on whatever the subject, and was overall a very open person. This often led to the sharing of some tears at the beginning of team which Katie was very harsh towards herself for, calling herself a ‘cry-baby’. She would often be harsh towards herself, calling herself other things like ‘silly and stupid’. Verbal Intervention on the part of the staff team often did little to mitigate this and it was clear that Katie struggled to acknowledge her own positives and didn’t have a good self-image.

She interacted well with other team members despite her uncertainty about group work, and quickly became a favourite of her peers for her personality and compassion. Though she found team ‘a little scary’ to begin with, she also added that she was enjoying it anyway. Katie initially struggled with challenges presented by team, finding them difficult and uncomfortable. When confronted with abseiling for example, she found her fear of heights too overwhelming to tackle head on, and instead settled upon a smaller victory of looking over the edge. Yet with time this shifted. As team progressed Katie became more confident tackling challenges and eventually overcame all of them, even her formerly crippling fear of heights at the gorge walk. By the time we concluded Katie had taken a strong role at the community project and spoken up in front of a crowd at the finishing ceremony – displaying her strong growth since the beginning of team.

Team clearly had a massively positive impact on Katie from the fears that she accomplished upon it. She stated herself that on team she had “the best friends she’s ever had” and that she loved every second of it. She gained confidence, overcame fear, grew as a person and came to love herself more than she did at the beginning. She took great strides with her one-to-one to tackle self-perceived issues. Like a lack of financial independence and her weight/health, and generally showed her development in every aspect of her life.

Katie hopes to do some sort of work with animals going forward, as she has volunteered with agencies that work with them in the past and has a passion for working with them. She will hopefully accomplish this through her continued efforts to grow as an individual. She will also likely continue to work with the YMCA in the coming years to accomplish the rest of her goals.