Kate had been struggling to understand herself

“I absolutely hated school. I struggled to make or keep friends. I felt like the teachers always picked on me. I could never get anything right and people were always telling me I wasn’t good enough. I left school with very little qualifications and with my confidence and self-esteem at rock bottom. I have known for a long time there was something different about me. I have seen lots of doctors before and never managed to get a full diagnosis but it seems likely that I am neurodiverse.”

“I have felt lonely and frustrated for a long time. After school I struggled to get or keep a job and spent years sitting alone in my room, bored. I have never met anyone like me and the thought of being neurodiverse left me even more confused.”

“It was the doctor who sent me to YG. I used one of their chat programmes and instantly felt at ease with the youth worker who contacted me. We started by messaging and eventually worked up to video chats. It felt so great to have someone to talk to and something to look forward to. It really helped keep my negative thoughts out of my mind. We worked on my confidence a lot. I was able to talk about myself and how I had been feeling, it was such a release. They also helped me with practical stuff like filling out forms and applying for benefits.”

“We worked together for about four months. The whole thing really helped pull me out of a rut. Together we looked at what I wanted to do next and my main thing was to get out and meet people, to make new friends and continue to build my confidence. We decided to apply for the Prince’s Trust Team programme. I never would have dreamt of doing something like this before but I really trusted my youth worker and she believed in me. Now I am on the programme and have even been away on residential. Since working on the chat programme, I feel a lot happier and people around me have seen a difference. I know I still have a lot to learn about myself and neurodiversity, but the programme has given me the courage to try new things and I am starting to believe in myself.”