| Click photos to read real stories from our coaches. | ||
| AMIN “I was working with a group of 16 year olds at risk of exclusion in a north London school. Most were gang members and very tough. Amin was 6'5” and heavily built – he regularly arrived at coaching with new stories of violent fights, sometimes with bloodied fists. On one occasion he put his fist through a window with anger when talking about his world. Amin began talking in depth about himself and realised that, due to his size, he had always been expected to take the lead and sort things out. Violence was the only path he saw open to him and, as he looked at what lay behind his actions he realised that he felt trapped and helpless. We focussed on the skills he had acquired in the gang and then on possibilities for using them in a more positive way – something he was keen to do. By the end of the programme he had decided to stop missing school and take the exams he needed to become a security guard, which was the option he chose to make use of his transferable skills. He realised he had something to offer and that he could have a fruitful career. He found the determination to pass his exams - the last I heard of him, Amin had a permanent job with Securicor.” |
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| DAMIEN “I worked with a 15 year old boy called Damien who was persistently excluded for clashing with authority. Many of the students at the school were intimidating and teachers tended to keep their distance. One day Damien had been disruptive in class and swore at a teacher, which led to another exclusion. I began asking him what he enjoyed at school. He replied “Macbeth” because “he tells you what he's going to do before he does it”. I asked him to use Macbeth’s soliloquy to imagine what the teacher in question might have been thinking. For the first time he started to look at how his actions could look to other people and how upsets occurred. This opened the door – once he began to understand his effect on others, he was able to start developing strategies for positive impact. Small steps led to so much more – he began setting himself small goals and each session achieved more. That was the end of his exclusions and he got enough GCSEs to go into further education.” |
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| JANE “Jane came from a single parent family in a deprived area. On first sight she appeared well presented but she was challenging to work with, showing signs of typical ADHD by constantly moving around the room and jumping from one topic to the other. Jane would often talk of her involvement in local gang culture and her participation in acts of violence resulting in police intervention. She seemed to find both pride and humour in these stories. Together we looked at how it would feel from the victim’s point of view, and eventually she realised that perhaps it wasn’t fun. Jane opened up about her dream of working with animals, but knew her academic abilities meant she could not realistically hope to be a vet. One of her goals between sessions was to do some research and she became inspired when she discovered she might become a nurse. This led to her organising work-experience for herself at a local vet’s practice. Over the year that I coached her, Jane appeared to calm down and begin taking responsibility for her actions and her own future. I later heard from the school that Jane had become a lunch monitor and had applied to college to do GCSE Biology as well as a vocational course on animal welfare.” |
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| MADIA “Madia, a 15 year old female student, was struggling with her relationship with her mother, who was unhappy she no longer conformed with some of her wishes. Her sister was in a home - Madia blamed her mother for abandoning her, but was frightened that if she made too much fuss, she might herself end up in a home. Madia was chaperoned at weekends and expected to return home immediately when school finished. She wanted to undertake extra lessons after school but her mother believed she would use the time to meet boys. The school had invited her mother to a meeting to discuss Madia's additional education requirements, but although her mother had accepted, she did not attend. Together we explored her options and looked at goals that might help her move forward. At the last session she announced that her mother had attended an awards ceremony with her. Madia was optimistic and clear that coaching had enabled her to think through her options and deploy strategies towards building a new relationship that would allow her mother to support her educational activities.” |
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| SARAH Many of Hanover’s most dramatic stories are of young people at risk, but we work with all levels of ability, included the gifted and talented. Sarah was an able girl who found it a relief to talk to her coach during a time of confusion about A level choices: “Sarah was clear about her future career and what subjects she wanted to study at A level. But then she attended a college open day and became very confused because she had seen new and interesting career opportunities. She realised she couldn't study everything that she was interested in, but didn’t know what to choose. We worked on balancing her differing passions and interests, exploring the options and implications and having a safety net in case things went wrong. After a few sessions Sarah was able to prioritise her list of A level subjects and found herself able to finally get to a manageable total of four. She was very pleased to have found the solution for herself and also that it enabled her to keep her divergent interests alive so that she could keep her options open between Law and Electronic Engineering.” |
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| AKANKE "I started coaching Akanke in her Year 10 at an inner London school. During our first session she told me she had been born in Nigeria and was living in England with her aunt. Her mother still lived and worked in Nigeria, and Akanke had an 'on-off' relationship with her. One of the first things we discussed was sickle cell blood disorder, which Akanke had inherited and was very concerned would kill her early in life. She appeared to be highly intelligent, but suffered from a lack of confidence. Her mother was highly ambitious for her daughter, but Ankanke found it hard to be motivated about her future. As we talked it became clear that, deep down, Akanke knew the prognosis was not as bad as she allowed herself to feel, so we worked on a more positive attitude and she overcame her fear of the disease. Akanke also took on a great resolve to succeed for herself. She had always liked the idea of being a doctor and so used her subsequent coaching sessions to build both short and long term goals for getting to medical school, looking at the challenges and potential barriers en route. I coached her in finding a work placement in a healthcare facility – she was relentless in her pursuit of the placement and, as determination took over, her self-assurance grew rapidly. By the end of her coaching programme, Akanke was confident and determined. She was on top on all her academic work, happy within herself, and was enjoying a closer relationship with her mother, which she herself put down to coaching." |
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 Coaching enabled me to make appropriate decisions about myfuture.  Sharon
I learnt about myself and have become self aware. I have learnt how to behave, and I now have confidence in myself.James I think everyone in school should have a Hanover person to talk to. I’ve not been able to trust any adults since my Gran died. Since doing Hanover I feel I can try to trust other students. I’ve now got two friends that I can confide in.Gerri |
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All names have been changed to protect confidentiality.