Feeling panicky and stressed…

The challenge

Client NH stated that at the start of our “Women into Work programme, in the Midlands, that she was confused, in a state of panic and stressed. NH displayed many barriers including anxiety, lack of self-belief, and very low confidence in her own abilities.

The initial challenge was to achieve a “state” of clam and trust with the NH. She agreed with her coach a set of responsibilities and accountabilities. The coach then worked through a series of challenging questions where NH was encouraged to talk about herself and what she really wanted to achieve and what areas she needed to develop. The coach discussed that the programme was about progression not perfection and about showing people what they can be and achieve. Not what they think or what others think they cannot achieve.

NH’s goals:

To become a teaching assistant.

·       Have more confidence at interviews

·       Confront anxiety, lack of self-belief and low confidence

·       Build up her confidence and self-belief

·       Improve and develop interview skills and CV structure

NH has worked as a teaching assistant within Birmingham schools and really enjoyed the work however the contract came to an end. With the contract ending and the onset of Covid 19 this had a massive impact on her confidence and self-belief, and she was unable to fully appreciating her skills and abilities.

NOTE* NH commented that after the first 15mins of the first session she felt calmer and that she could talk about herself and her skills.

What we did

We agreed an action plan and discussed that this can be flexible, but we needed a main overall goal to aim for, so her main goal was “to become a confident teaching assistant”

Her coach suggested we initially start the programme discussing her anxiety, self-belief and low confidence and support NH to understand how these are inter-linked. We then looked at tools and coping strategies to overcome the thoughts-feelings and behaviours that were impacting on her self-esteem and low confidence.

NH was also unsure of how to deal with unacceptable behaviour and how to manage this. We coached and discussed this with NH covering Assertive, Passive and Aggressive behaviours and the impact on people. As the sessions progressed we also coached and discussed interview techniques, interview questions and re-structured the clients CV. NH was encouraged to research and contact teaching agencies for potential jobs. This was an area that NH was very unsure of due to her lack of confidence.

However, as the sessions progressed NH became more confident in her abilities and skills and began to make contact speaking with agencies and for the first time ever felt confident being interviewed by her job centre work advisor. NH has now attended 2 agency interviews and is awaiting a teaching assistant role soon.

The outcome

Motiv-8 has seen the most amazing change in ND, she is now a more confident lady who now understands her abilities and skills and is well able to put these across confidently at interview. She has attended 2 interviews and we are just waiting to hear that she has successfully attained a new role as a  teaching assistant.