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Kirsty was born with a hearing impairment. As she grew up this really began to impact on her confidence, especially as she approached adolescence. Kirsty was very conscious of being different, and didn’t enjoy taking part in groups or activities, especially if it would necessitate her having to take her hearing aids out.
When Kirsty went up to Secondary School her teachers were concerned that her self esteem was very low, and that she was feeling frustrated and inhibited by her hearing impairment. Kirsty was referred to The Mitchemp Trust New Start Adventure Programme by the Pastoral Manager at her school to help her build her confidence and self esteem.
“At the last camp they’d talked about Duke of Edinburgh and I thought it sounded good. Then when I got back to school there were posters up about going to a meeting about it. I thought I’d go along and when I got to the hall where it was there were loads of people there I didn’t know. Before I did all The Mitchemp Trust camps I probably wouldn’t have even gone into the room cos it looked a bit scary. But I think the camps gave me more confidence with that kind of thing, so I went in and thought I’d sign up. I’m really glad I did cos now we’ve done our group planning and we’re going on our first expedition this weekend”
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