Emily, Newcastle

When Emily, aged 22 first attended Digital Transitions, she was very friendly and very enthusiastic about starting the project and getting some routine back into her life however her confidence levels were very low. She had found a way to cope with this by either talking a lot or not talking at all. Emily found concentrating very difficult as a lot was going on in her life and found it hard to deal with it.

“Before joining headliners my life was really out of control, I was up and down quite a lot and I really wasn’t in a good frame of mind. I had heard about Digital transitions from my support worker and it sounded great! So I decided to take control of my life and join the course. My confidence levels at the time were really struggling but I took a leap of faith and started the course anyway. I’m so glad that I pushed myself because since starting the course I have never looked back.” Emily

Initially Emily came into the sessions just once a week, but she quickly found that she got a lot from the sessions and enjoyed herself so she attending twice a week which gave her the chance to get out into the community using digital SLR cameras which have become a big passion of hers.

Over a nine month period, Emily became more and more confident and started to believe in herself more: She engaged in more group work and met new people. Within the safe space provided by Headliners she opened up and shared experiences with other young people within the group.

"Headliners has brought a routine and structure back into my life and a support system that I can trust. For the first time in what feels like forever I’m not only setting goals but achieving them too. My course leader David, has been amazing and even throughout a pandemic has offered me unrelenting support. Our sessions have always been fun and relaxed, yet covering really important subjects like debt management, writing a cv and looking for a work placement. We even have 1-1 emotional support sessions where we can go out with the cameras and then put the world to rights over a cappuccino."

Emily has showcased some amazing photography skills and photographs whilst being part of Digital Transitions and exceeded her own expectations by winning a competition to design a logo for the project which is now known nationally. She has always shown a keen interest in every session, contributed a lot of her thoughts and ideas and has become a skilled photographer. She recently completed her O.C.N London accreditation level one in Photography with ease.  

David, Project Officer: “Since joining the project I have watched Emily come in as a not very confident young lady who had very low self-esteem and she couldn’t see her own capabilities to now a young lady who now has grown massively in confidence and has more of a brighter outlook in life to the point of now bidding for a house of her own, looking forward to job searching and generally being happier in herself.

When I first met Emily, she was very friendly and very enthusiastic about starting the project and getting some routine back into her life. Whilst talking to Emily I found her confidence levels were very low and she had found a way to cope with this by either talking a lot or not talking at all. Emily found concentrating very difficult as a lot was going on in her life and found it hard to deal with it.

At the start of the project Emily came into session once a week and found she really enjoyed it and started coming into session twice a week which gave her the chance to get out and use the cameras which I found photography and creativity being a big passion of hers. Slowly over time Emily became more and more confident within herself and this was the start of her blossoming. She engaged in more group work, meeting new people and creating that safe space she opened up and shared experiences with other young people within the group.

Emily has showcased some amazing photography skills and photographs whilst being part of Digital transitions and exceeded her own expectations by winning the competition for the new logo of the project which is now known nationally. She has always shown keen interest in every session and contributed a lot of her thoughts and ideas which is why she has become a skilled photographer. She completed her O.C.N accreditation with ease and put in full effort to do so".

To see some of the media content Emily has created during the project click here.

This project in one strand of the Digital Transitions project. This project was made possible by funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation.