Confidence is the key: “Before the mentoring sessions, I had no idea on what to pick for my career”
Amir had no idea what he wanted to do when he left school, he was uncertain about his future and the idea of doing something he was passionate about couldn’t be further from his thoughts.
Many young people like Amir, especially those from less affluent backgrounds, feel the same way; let down by society and unable to fulfil their potential. No one believes in them, no one invests in them. Too many young people are at risk of finishing school with nothing to do and nothing to go on to. Too many young people are not even able to dream.
But when Amir met the mentors from The Diana Award, everything changed.
Amir joined our twelve-week mentoring programme in Spring 2023. The programme gives young people the skills, knowledge and confidence to build a career and a future for themselves. Working with mentors from local businesses, they learn life and career skills such as CV writing, interviewing techniques and get exposed to the world of work by meeting mentors from a full range of different career paths.
Before he joined the programme Amir’s future was uncertain, he did not know what he wanted to do with his life, and he did not have the communication skills or discipline that he needed to move forward. Most concerningly, he lacked the confidence to ask for the help he needed. But now that is all in the past.
“Before I would’ve kept my ideas to myself, and I wouldn't talk to anyone, but now - I feel so confident talk to people… I was scared to ask teachers, “how should I do my work” and stuff like that. But now I feel more confident in speaking to my teachers, nearly every day about the work and how I should do it and they support me loads. ”
With his newfound confidence Amir has found a way to give back. Now a member of his school’s Peer Mentoring group, he is responsible for speaking with students who have problems and guiding new students around the school!
But maybe the biggest change for Amir is that he now knows what he wants to do with his life. After learning from the mentors, he has a new drive that his career will be something he is passionate about
“One thing that I learned was, do something you love doing as your career because there’ll be no point of just picking something that you don't like, and you're just stuck with that for the rest of your life.”
Amir is passionate about the possibility of working in sport and is taking subjects that could help make that dream a reality. He knows that this will be challenging but says that the mentoring programme has helped him; “The experience was definitely great and it was worth the time to do it because we've learnt new how to complete hard tasks and that has really helped me. Now I know when I face hard tasks at school, I still have a chance to complete them, even though it's hard” he told us.
The future is looking much brighter for Amir because we believe in his potential and we know that through the mentoring programme we can bring out the best that has to offer.
And you can help us.
The Diana Award Mentoring team are already working with young people that are in critical need. We work with schools in some of the most challenging areas of London and Yorkshire with young people who, without our help, run the risk of dropping out education and failing to get a job.
You can help us change the course of young people’s lives.
Your donation could help more young people to be mentored by The Diana Award, to find their confidence and be all that they can be. Your donation could change the life of a young person.*
We already have more young people waiting for their chance than we can currently help.
*Your donation will be used to support our work wherever we feel the need is greatest
£10