Case Studies

AP is a young person with moderate learning difficulties who is from a minority background.  He struggles to concentrate in school and often gets depressed and loses self-confidence.  He doesn’t tend to talk to his peers and keeps to himself most of the time. 

Since he started on his practical countryside and environmental skills course with Green Corridor, AP has learnt how to use hand tools, which has built up his confidence and improved his gross and fine motor skills. 

Working as part of a team on outdoor tasks AP has improved his ability to communicate and is now chatting to his peers about the projects that he has in common with them.  He is making great progress in his training and is on course to pass successfully, which will provide him with an accredited qualification.

“Today has been the most fun I’ve had”
– AP after a morning working to improve a derelict pond.

“The improvement in AP at school as a result of his involvement with Green Corridor has been brilliant, he is happier and more settled, which is improving his learning in class”
– School Teacher at AP’s Special Education Needs Secondary School.

CJ is a young girl who is currently a resident in a local hostel after leaving home and having nowhere else to go.  She is unemployed and not in education. 

As a result of her previous experiences, she has low self-esteem and has become disillusioned with society around her, finding it difficult to form positive relationships. 

Through participating in a Green Corridor pilot project, which is working in the hostel’s newly refurbished garden, CJ is learning how to prepare, sow and care for vegetables that will be used in the hostel’s kitchens.  The project is a fifteen-week programme that will lead to an accredited qualification, on the understanding that CJ attends every week and completes the tasks.  The course is voluntary and so CJ is learning to plan her weekly routine in order to attend. 

By building mutual respect with the course tutors, CJ is starting to increase her own self confidence and build interpersonal skills which will help her to move on to further education and find a job.  During a mid-programme feedback session, CJ was asked if she was talking to another young person, why would she encourage them to get involved with Green Corridor.  She replied “cos you never know, you just might learn something!”

ELW has been a volunteer with Green Corridor’s Heathrow Green Volunteer Team since November.  He is one of a growing number of young people who are finishing their education, but finding that he is unable to find work due to the employment shortage.  Through engagement in our volunteer team and developing his confidence and practical skills, ELW is now heading up the volunteer committee.  He is strengthening his CV by learning and working with Green Corridor to improve his employability in the future.

“It’s extremely rewarding knowing that the hedgerow that you are helping to plant will be a home for wildlife for years to come, or that you have uncovered unexplored archaeological remains while clearing undergrowth.”