My name is Danielle I am 19 years old. I am going to tell you about my life with school, when I was 11 I started year 7 at a school called Crowdys Hill School I was quiet and I was good, I would get all my work done, but, struggled to make friends and mixing in with people as I didn’t know how to that right.

When I was in year 8 I was slowly getting my confidence to talk to people and slowly felt able to hang out with people but it was still hard. I was quite shy and felt I was on my own thinking of how to overcome my confidence.

When did things change for you?

Just as I started year 9 my dad died on Christmas eve, he died at work and on new years day at half 8 in the morning my mum told me that dad had died. It had an impact on my learning and I fell behind on all my work and my exams. I didn’t have time for school, I thought I could go back to school, but my behaviour changed quite quickly.

When I was in year 10 and 11, It took me a long time to try and understand the situation with my dad. I thought it was a joke at the start but, it was different when I went home as I didn’t see him come home from work then I started to understand it was true it really hurt me because if I had a problem he would be there and sorted it out, I was only 15 at this point. So my mum got me some help I went to step and it helped me with my emotional issues and it helped me with my temper and meeting new people, I also had to retake my Maths and English it was so hard to do my exams.

What has helped to get your confidence back?

Step helped me to open up as they understand how people may be struggling with mental and emotional issues, it helped me to build confidence and to speak to people my age, as before I felt quiet and scared of everyone, the only thing I felt helped was listening to music at that time. I could only attend Step up until the age of 18, that’s when I came along to the platform project, it helped me to get out and open up to people going through the similar situations and I now I feel that I can open up to more people. I feel that the platform project has really helped as I couldn’t even leave the house before.

Why was your school experience so different to this?

I felt that the school didn’t understand, naturally my behaviour changed, due to everything I had gone through. I felt as though they had almost punished me instead. They set up a lesson, that was a one-to-one, but I felt as though they threw me in the deep end, especially as this was a time when my confidence was very low. I felt that during this one-to- one they knew what they wanted to hear and had already made their minds up before I could explain.

I then started Green Labyrinth, this is the college I’m studying at, at the moment, I am completing my English and Maths here, I have one year left at the college. The college is different from the schools I have attended as I have a mentor and feel there is more option to do what I want. If I’m having a bad day, they allow me to go to the quiet room, there is always someone to reach out to if I need to and I feel they always make time for me.

I would say that overall, I felt that in school, there was minimal support this was probably due to the school being busy and not equipped to deal with these problems, I hope that in the future schools will be better equipped to deal with students going through, mental and emotional issues and bereavements.

What would your advice to others be?

My advice would be –

Try as much as you can at school.

Attend STEP and the Platform Project if you can as this has really built my confidence and has helped me to open up .