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For some teenagers, life can be really tough. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
No-one really liked me, and I had to be by myself where it was better... | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
safer. Cos I was scared of other people. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:24 | |
I struggled with self-esteem. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:27 | |
My confidence was really low. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:30 | |
I felt really lonely, left out and sad. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:33 | |
I hear from a lot of young people who feel on their own in | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
difficult or dangerous situations. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
Maybe they're being bullied | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
or maybe they're being drawn into crime or maybe they've got, | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
like, difficult home life, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:47 | |
and their parents are suffering from drug or alcohol problems. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
And just imagine what that would do for your self-esteem, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
and what that would do to your beliefs in the chances of a happy future. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
Paige is 17, and is working hard at her summer job in | 0:01:00 | 0:01:04 | |
a local theme park. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
There we go. The park closes at ten tonight, so you've got lots of time. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
But getting here hasn't been easy. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
When Paige was born, her mum was only 15, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
and she had her own issues to deal with. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
Home life was fraught with rows, | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
and Paige was bullied at school for her skin colour. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:24 | |
I got diagnosed with depression when I was 14. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
I was angry at the people that was hurting me. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
And no-one was listening to me. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
I started being antisocial and I kept on running away. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
And I got in with people that were drinking, that were older. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
And I stayed out quite late. Kind of getting in trouble. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
Things got really bad for Paige. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
She was bunking off school and even self-harmed. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
But then she heard about a charity that helps young people to | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
find their way, no matter how far off-track they've travelled. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:56 | |
The charity is called Youth At Risk, and what it does is put on | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
these life-coaching courses for teenagers and for young adults. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
Youth At Risk asks them to identify what is that thing that's | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
stopping them from getting what they want out of life. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
And what can be done to achieve it. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:15 | |
Youth At Risk encourages teenagers to see themselves and their | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
problems differently. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
Can you go back and change what happened to you, Jesse? No. No. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:28 | |
What can you change? The future. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
This is one of the charity's tough five-day, | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
intensive training courses. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:37 | |
Paige also went on one of these. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
Hi, Paige. Hello. How are you? How you doing? I'm good, you? | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
'I wanted to ask her how the course worked.' | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
Well, the five-day intensive is very hard, cos, you know, | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
you've got to be ready to change. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:56 | |
You get paired with a coach and you have to work with them and | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
try and get an understanding of how you feel about yourself. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
Who was your coach, and what did they do for you? | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
My coach was called Dion, and I think she was, like, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
the first proper black woman that I properly met, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
and I think that was quite encouraging, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:12 | |
because now I feel happy to be black. So, that's good. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
That's important, to like yourself. It is, very. Of course. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
And then what changed in your life outside of the course, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
once it was completed. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
Erm, I moved into foster care, so I left my family home, | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
and that helped me kind of focus. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
My coach was quite on my case, getting me to finish my GCSEs. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
And I've got a lovely family now, and my bond with my mum is really | 0:03:29 | 0:03:34 | |
growing, so I think that's quite a big thing for me. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
Paige's turnaround shows how much Youth At Risk can do. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
The young people on the charity's programmes increase their | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
ambitions, refocus on their education, or start a job. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:48 | |
At the end of the course, they sum up how they see themselves now. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
I am focused, responsible, and committed. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
Standing up for who I am, and who I'm yet to be. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
The next stage for the new graduates is six months of work with | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
their life coaches, who'll help them stay on track. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:05 | |
They're volunteers and come from all walks of life. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
It's a fantastic opportunity for somebody locally, within | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
my community, who I can help transform their lives. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
I was very shy before I started, but now I'm more confident, | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
and...it feels great. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:21 | |
These amazing, brave teenagers turn to Youth At Risk when they are | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
out of other options. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
And the charity challenges them to stop blaming other people for | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
their problems, and just to take responsibility into their own hands. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
And this isn't always easy, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
but they really believe that the tough love approach is the | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
way to handle things, because, at the end of the day, | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
the only person that you can change is yourself. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
Youth At Risk has already helped nearly 20,000 young people | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
across the UK since they started 24 years ago. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
Dave was one of their early recruits, | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
back in the 1990s in South London. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
He is now 37 and lives in Cornwall with his partner and baby daughter. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:13 | |
But the young Dave had some pretty big demons to fight. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
I'd been bullied early on in my life | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
and I'd actually become what I hated most...which was a bully. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:28 | |
My family had a reputation, where I come from, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
and, you know, I felt like I had to live up to it. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
Also, my mum at that time she was quite ill. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
Mental health problems and suicide attempts. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:45 | |
So, growing up, that was quite difficult to deal with. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
Dave had a history of offending, | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
but then saw a poster for a Youth At Risk course in the police station. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:58 | |
I began, for the first time, speaking about my mum. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
There was a lot of tears. And a lot of anger, as well. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
It's about realising that I shouldn't blame myself. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
I've had bad things happen, but it's up to me how I deal with the future. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:15 | |
Dave is now a Youth At Risk ambassador, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
giving talks and helping out on their courses across the country. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:24 | |
Good girl. Stay still. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
'My life without Youth At Risk I think would have been | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
'a lifetime of prison or I'd have probably been dead.' | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
So, erm, yeah, Youth At Risk really did save my life. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
Youth At Risk does incredible work with young people who are | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
living right on the edge. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
Teenagers who need a real positive way to deal with some really | 0:06:51 | 0:06:54 | |
difficult situations. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
But none of this is cheap, and they need your help. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
Especially as they have some great stuff coming up. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
ALL: Cheese! | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
Youth At Risk have just run a really successful pilot project here | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
in Hackney, in London. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
You see so much bad news, so much negativity. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
These young people have bucked that trend. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
Each one of the 13 young people on the course | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
has been inspired to change. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
Because of you lot, I have stepped to a different way in life, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
a different path. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:29 | |
And I thank you for that. APPLAUSE | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
With success like this, Youth At Risk can now roll out their | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
programme of courses here, too. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
Their aim is to help another 300 kids like Paige and Dave. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:43 | |
But it's going to take some serious funding. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
You can help more young people have a crack at being happy, safe, | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
and strong enough to deal with the problems that life throws at them. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
A ?10 donation will cover the costs of | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
a young person getting to and from a Youth At Risk course, | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
and the charity don't want people to miss out on this opportunity | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
simply because they can't afford to get there. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
A ?20 donation will cover the costs of a volunteer life coach, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
and help somebody get closer to achieving their goals. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:14 | |
So, make a big difference to a young person's future | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
by donating - right now. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
To give by phone, call... | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
Calls are free from mobiles and landlines. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
Texts costs ?10 plus your standard network message charge, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
and the whole ?10 goes to Youth At Risk. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
For full terms and conditions, or to make a donation online, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
visit the Lifeline website at... | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
Or if you'd like to post a donation, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
please make your cheque payable to Youth At Risk and send it to | 0:08:48 | 0:08:52 | |
Freepost, BBC Lifeline Appeal, writing "Youth At Risk" on the | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
back of the envelope. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:57 | |
Thank you. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:00 |