Building Up Young Leaders

At Golddigger Trust, one of our main values is that we strive to be ‘young person centred’. Our weekly Wellbeing Workshops are an encouraging space for young people to learn new skills and take some time to focus on their wellbeing! Each week our workshops are based on one of our five wellbeing principles: Create, Move, Connect, Shift or Pause.

With support from our Wellbeing Team, our young people have been using their new-found confidence and skills to become a bigger part of Golddigger Trust. We want young people to know that they are seen, known and valuable. As part of this we want young people to be a part of what we do!

After receiving support from Golddigger Trust, Willow planned and led her own workshop. What started as an idea to host a workshop developed into Willow working with James from our Wellbeing Team to plan an hour long workshop where young people could design their own board game. Willow then ran the session, with support from James.

Willow said: “I wanted to lead a workshop just so I could see what it's like for the staff. It helped me build my confidence and get to experience what the adults do every week. Seeing it the same way as people I value, I thought, would show me that both perspectives are just as nerve-wracking.

“I enjoyed working with other people with mental health 'difficulties' and seeing what their minds could come up with. I also enjoyed hearing how they felt about the workshop; knowing they enjoyed it as much as me.

“I learned how hard it is from both perspectives of people at a workshop, although I learned that I just need a little boost of excitement to help with my confidence issue. Overall, everything that we did helped me and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity.”

Kate from our Wellbeing Team, said: “We want to utilise the skills and passions of our young people in how they take care of their wellbeing to impart this to others! Creativity is a huge part of how Willow takes care of her own wellbeing so this was such a beautiful opportunity for her to share this with others, as well as building and equipping her own confidence too.”