Interview with Rebecca about her aspirations in life

Rebecca from Northampton Mayday Trust, is 22 and has been living in Mayday accommodation for 6 months. Before coming to Mayday Rebecca was living in refuge and arrived at Mayday a very shy and timid young person that was sacred of what life was going to throw at her. After the support she has received from Mayday Trust she has now blossomed into a confident and assertive person who has clear ideas and aspirations of what she wants from her future. Rebecca’s lifelong dream is to work with animals of all shapes and sizes. She told the staff at Mayday about her dreams and is now looking for courses on animal care with her mentor and is looking to apply for a course at the local college for September enrolment.  Rebecca has recently found herself a voluntary job at Cancer Research Charity Shop with help from the Job Centre and encouragement from Mayday. Mayday has helped her to budget her money so she can afford to pay for public transport to and from the shop daily and have encouraged her to continue with it even though it is no longer compulsory that she completes it.

Rebecca knows that in order to achieve her goal of working with animals she can ask staff at Mayday to signpost her and support her in courses relevant to her dreams and abilities. Rebecca has set herself a target of achieving the first milestone in her action plan by September this year and is much more open in discussing her ambitions in life.

“I realise now no one can help me if I don’t tell them what I want. If I don’t ask I will never get and so many things have come from me opening up to my mentor about what I want to do. I don’t want to be getting a job behind the counter at Tesco full time I want to be different to others and I want to do what I have always wanted to do. I love animals so much and they make me feel happy and that’s why I want to work with them.”

Rebecca has also got other aspirations in life that she would like to achieve but the most important other than working with animals is being able to look after her young niece without having her family “watching over my shoulder all the time.” After living at Mayday Rebecca has developed basic living skills and is now confident that she would be able to look after her niece on her own. This is so important to Rebecca because she doesn’t want to have children of her own but would like to be a part of her nieces.

Written by Fiona McCance - Mayday Reporter & Intrepid Explorer - 07/2013