Hear from our participants.
Aleena
Aleena had just started her first year at the University of Leeds when she did her Grit workshop.
“I felt all over the place… there was so much to do… and thanks to Covid it was the first time I had studied for exams since school. It was difficult just to keep going. It was like my work-life balance was about to tip over...”
Simon
“The first thing I tell other businesses about Grit,” says Octopus Group CEO, Simon Rogerson, “is, get involved!
It is a genuinely brilliant experience – eye-opening on loads of levels and as powerful for professionals as it is for young people. In Grit I see the passion, the commitment, a can-do mindset coupled with huge expertise”
Chris
Chris is Head of Year 11 at a school in Warwickshire. He did a three-day Grit staff workshop.
“I was blown away by the course. For me it was all about moving away from a confrontational approach where the member of staff always has to be right…The Grit focus is on the relationship with the student…”
Arshaaq
Arshaaq was in his second year at the University of Wolverhampton when he took part in a Grit programme.
“I realised that, although I can’t change how university is, what I can change is how I am, how I deal with things. Uni is different from how I imagined it, but that’s OK… I saw that I had it in my power to get the most out of it…”
Emma
Emma commissioned a Grit programme staff across a Community Safety Partnership.
“We were looking for a new way of thinking, a new way of working together that would transform the way we think about young people. We needed to try something different. So, I commissioned Grit - and wow!”
Larissa
Larissa did a three-day Grit programme in her first year at Nottingham Trent University.
“I wasn’t handling it well, I couldn’t keep up with it… I went along to the Grit workshop [and] as we dug deeper I started to connect the dots … How my past has a hold on me and I won’t even talk about it.”
Gwyneth
Gwyneth is a lecturer at Cardiff University. Part of her role also includes supporting Welsh speaking students. She did a 2-day Grit workshop for staff.
“It felt like a big shift to take the Grit coaching approach on board. For me it was a step into the unknown. It’s made me rethink my relationship with students. It’s had me raise my game. “
Daud
Daud took part in the Grit Black Leadership workshop at Nottingham Trent University.
“It wasn’t until I’d done the Grit programme that I realised how much I’d been longing to belong. Sure, I had connected with other students but that was only on the basis of being at the same institution. It was all very one dimensional. After Grit I was seeing things in three dimensions.”
Callum
Callum had just graduated from university and was when he went back to do a Grit workshop.
“I was having real problems with the process of getting a job. My heart was just not in it. I had a massive problem with self confidence, about where I wanted to go in life. I’d become what my younger self would call a failure”
Liam
Liam was in year 10 at a school in Warwickshire when he did a Grit programme.
As Liam puts it himself, “I was going off the rails.” There were days when he didn’t go to school at all, just hung around the streets with other young people getting involved in anti-social behaviour.
Anna
Anna had just started as a student at Newham College of Further Education when she did a Grit programme.
“I’ve always felt I’m not good enough. I’ve always had these negative thoughts and feelings controlling me, telling me ‘you can’t do this.’ Now Grit tells me ‘I CAN do it!’ It is such a boost.”
Sara
A Programme Administrator at the University of Hull, Sara did a 2-day Grit programme for staff.
“The impact of Grit on me was resounding, profound. In the workshop I had what I can only describe as an epiphany. Now I really feel I’m getting somewhere. I can see the difference I’m making. I’ve got my sense of purpose back.”
Kenisha
Kenisha was in her second year at the University of Greenwich when she did a Grit Programme.
“I was finding the workload very difficult to manage. There was so much of it. I often felt overwhelmed, paralyzed. I spent a lot of time just procrastinating. I thought I was the only one struggling like this. "
Rodney
Rodney was a Social Worker at the LB Haringey Young Adults Service when he did a Grit Programme
“I’ve had colleagues coming up to me and saying ‘I wish I’d been part of the Grit programme’... I’ve been empowered. It’s changed the way I approach my work. It’s changed the way I approach my life.”