“My normal job role with YG is as an Administrator, but for the last two years, each Summer I have made the move to NCS Assistant Programme Leader … and I loved it. For this year, I was on NCS Team seven – Thor. I am always nervous on the run up to NCS but from day one the young people were amazing and I am so proud of what they’ve achieved.

 

“Week one was going to a residential centre and the young people undertook challenging activities such as caving, building and sailing a coracle (small, round boat), zip wiring, hiking and lots more. We also did a NCS Olympics and our team won.

 

“The second week was also spent on residential but in a different location and the week focused on getting the group ready for the next steps in their lives. We did sessions on body image, sexual health, money skills etc and received talks from local charities that we could choose to support. At night we did bubble football, had water fights, watched movies and hosted our own NCS’s Got Talent.

 

“Week’s three and four was all about deciding on a charity to support and starting to raise money for them and finding a way that we could do something positive with them. My team chose Teens in Crisis, a charity that supports young people with issues such as depression, anxiety, bereavement, bullying, anger, relationship problems, low self-esteem and self-harm. One young person had personal experience with Teens in Crisis so thought it would be great to support them.

 

“The young people decided to produce a video aimed at young males, because the majority of young males doesn’t access Teens in Crisis but the need is massive and the suicide rate for males is more than females. So, we scripted, rehearsed, videoed, edited and finally produced the video. The CEO of Teens in Crisis actually cried at the video and said it was amazing. We also did a pub quiz, which raised £200 in 2 hours, which was amazing.

“In just four weeks I watched the young people grow in confidence, improve their communication skills and increase their self-esteem. I am so proud of NCS Team seven – Thor, and watching them graduate was a final celebration of all they achieved this summer. NCS gave both them and myself a wonderful experience in which we learnt a lot about ourselves and managed to help others – what better way to spend our summer – bring on next year I say!”