People’s stories

Be inspired by the people we work with and hear from our staff about how we help to create a brighter future for Sheffield’s young people.

We know that young people are so much more than their circumstances. Bright, funny, caring, ambitious – the list goes on. It’s a list that we’re here to champion.  

These are the real people behind the statistics. Real people making positive changes in their lives. 

graphic doodle of an open notebook
graphic doodle of an open notebook

Harry’s story

Harry's Project Coach shares an insight into their journey from unmotivated introvert to positive, confident...
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Ruby’s story

When Ruby came into the Ambitions project, she told us she lacked motivation. She’d been out of work and education for a while and had lost any sense of structure or routine to her day. She hoped that getting back into some form of education or training...
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Lloyd’s story

When I first met Lloyd, he really didn’t want to talk to me. Although he didn’t say this, the one-word answers and avoiding eye contact pretty much gave it away. Lloyd was a Y11 student facing Post 16 options, a situation hundreds of students are...
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Joseph and Robeina’s story

Joseph was in foster care when he joined Project Apollo. He was isolated, suffered with anxiety and had been diagnosed with Autism. He told me that he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his future, but his childhood dream was to be a bus driver....
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Tamir’s story

After his dad died suddenly during the pandemic, Tamir* was struggling to manage his feelings about his loss, and with support from his school, he agreed to trying some counselling. My first contact with Tamir was over the phone with him and his mum. Tamir...
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Kate’s story

It was someone’s mistake at school that led to me being involved with Sheffield Futures. One day, when I was in Year 10, my teacher rushed into the classroom and said, “Kate, pick four friends, it’s the Festival of Debate at the Town Hall today!”. My...
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Chelsea’s story

Project Apollo was an award-winning, three-year programme, supporting 100 care leavers into education training and employment. Project Apollo was close to my heart because of my own experiences of the care system and as a care leaver. I’ve always wanted to...
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Chris’ Story

I joined Sheffield Futures as a Health and Wellbeing Practitioner. I’d come from another service where I was a Youth Worker. The culture was immediately different. In one of my first All Staff conferences, they did a fake Oscars awards. People voted on...
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Aleesha’s story

Aleesha* had just completed 12 weeks of counselling with Door43 at Sheffield Futures when she was supported by one of our Social Prescribing team. She was familiar with being in Star House and had met some of our staff, so she felt safe with us. The plan was...
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