Harley is 23. He has dyspraxia, a communication difficulty. He got in trouble with the police, and was referred to Raising Your Game in East Kent back in 2010.
In June 2011, he was employed within the project and joined the six other Project Support Assistants employed by Raising Your Game. Together, they play a big part in shaping the project’s activities.
Having been out of work for two years, I was relieved to put my troubled past behind me, to get a job and feel secure. I am happy to be involved in something I enjoy, plus, I am being paid for doing it.
Harley lives independently and is choosing a more promising life by keeping out of trouble. Raising Your Game has helped Harley be part of something positive – which has resulted in him getting a job in an area where jobs are hard to come by.
Growing up in council estates, you haven’t got the chance, because of the sort of people you know … You just fall in with what’s going on … Working with Raising Your Game, I’ve be working with young people who come from troubled places, [who have] been in trouble with the police, that kind of stuff, the sort of background I’m from.
I really like working as part of the team. In the past, we’ve had a visit from Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet, at one of our sessions. He seemed pretty interested in what we were doing. I even went to speak at a meeting at the Houses of Parliament to speak to some important people about how they can help young people, like me, who go through the system. The project has made a massive difference to my life and I am really happy to be part of it.
A big part of Harley’s role as Projecrt Support Assistant is to help deliver our free communications awareness training ‘Talk about Talk’ to professionals working with young people.
I really like delivering the training to people that work with young people; I think it’s important when they get to hear my experiences of the system. It makes them stop and think and I hope it helps them work in a better way.
Useful links
- Find out how you can offer a work placement to a young person
- Read about our House of Lords launch event
- Information about our free communications awareness training
- Find a Raising Your Game group near you