Stephen’s story
Growing in confidence after a traumatic event
For Stephen, life changed in an instant.
After being attacked outside his son’s school - an event that left him with a broken hand and knee damage - he withdrew from day-to-day life. Once a full-time truck driver, Stephen was suddenly grappling with physical pain, stress, anxiety, and the challenge of starting over.
“I basically shut myself away from everybody,” he explains.
It was through a recommendation at the Job Centre that Stephen first connected with Routes To Work. He saw a programme that might help him rebuild his confidence - and took a chance.
“Being able to get the confidence back has been a great help,” says Stephen. “Now that I can deal with people that I’ve never known before… it’s been a lot easier to get my head in the right place.”
Stephen’s next goal is to return to part-time work, with the hope of starting a small art business in future.
“It helped me get my mind and my body back into the right position,” he reflects. “Now I can relax and do things that I write my comforts on.”
Our Confidence Building Workshop has been a successful pilot programme for our work in Clackmannanshire.
We supported 9 clients through a 5 week confidence and motivation course.
We had the first group from January 2025 at Hawkhill Community Centre and the second group from March 2025 at the Bowmar Community Centre and we worked in partnership with Community Learning and Development while based there. They helped us with a Cooking on a Budget workshop too!
We've had people go on to employment, volunteering, college courses and Stephen went on to complete an NHS accreditation after his course with us!
