A Story of Hope
Many of our young people come to us in a place of hopelessness. They have often battled with feeling overwhelmed, low self-worth, not being able to see a way out or feeling like they are unable to manage the emotions that they are feeling. Here at Golddigger Trust, we have the privilege to meet them in that place to speak worth and encouragement into their lives.
For Laura*, this was the case. Laura came to us at 16 struggling with feelings of low self worth, anxiety and low mood and she felt “nervous and worried that the help I would get, wouldn’t actually help”. Laura first attended our I’m The Girl I Want To Be Course back at the beginning of 2020, and attended every session, even when the course had to suddenly move to online delivery as the first national lockdown started. She brought so much encouragement to others in the group by sharing honestly about her struggles and encouraging others to keep going- using the glimmering embers of hope she was nurturing to inspire others too. Having first worried the course wouldn’t make a difference, she found transformative to her mindset- “[In the course I have] Learnt to accept things in the past and learn from them, and understand that I need to love me for me”.
Since then Laura has attended our Sisu managing emotions course which helped her to gain “understanding of why i may act or think different to others and learn why i feel way i do and how to feel better”. After this she was keen to learn more and be involved with all Golddigger Trust had to offer- so went on to attend our Un/Rest course, Body Image Workshop and our Stretch & Reflect workshop programmes. We saw how each week she would grow in confidence as she learnt that she does have worth which then developed into passion to help others to grow towards this also. We were so proud of her when she overcame her struggles with how she felt about her body and completed our Stretch & Reflect workshop series in summer of 2020. This felt like a big step for her as she faced the challenge to accept and love her body as we worked towards positively moving and using our bodies.
Although this journey is still ongoing for Laura, she has grown in understanding of what it means to accept and love herself and the flames of hope are burning brightly now. She said that Golddigger Trust gave her hope as, “they gave me motivation and positive encouragement and always offered to listen to any of my problems”. When we asked her what one piece of advice she would give for someone who is feeling hopeless now, she would say, “that you will not feel like this forever and that even though you may not feel any hope at the moment, there is so much hope around you and inside you that you just haven’t discovered yet!”. Laura’s life has been transformed now that she is learning her value and has hope for her future.
It is thanks to our amazing supporters that we can offer the gift of hope to young people like Laura. Could you consider signing up to give a regular gift of hope every month to help us to continue to bring hope where there is none? If so, sign up here to give.