January signalled the beginning of a new year, and with that my first time volunteering at CoachBright. Needless to say, I was nervous about the whole thing. Filling out the application form, doubts were swirling in my mind as to whether or not I was good enough for the role. Would there be an interview? If so, would I have an intimidating interviewer looking down disdainfully at my lack of experience and credentials? However, these thoughts abruptly came to a halt. For as soon as I had submitted my application form, I instantly got an e-mail inviting me to partake in a coach assessment day. I went feeling even more nervous about having to be assessed, as well as the fact that I would know no one there.
For the second time, CoachBright surprised me. To my relief, there were no critiquing middle-aged adults ready to whisk me into a room for an interview. Instead, I was greeted by people who were both friendly and practically my age! I could finally breathe with the knowledge that I had met friendly faces.
Two painless training sessions went by, and I was quickly assigned to a seven-week programme in Stoke Newington. I was introduced to a sweet girl who had dreams of dabbling in criminal psychology, but struggling in aspects of AS Psychology. For our hourly sessions therefore, I helped my coachee to slowly overcome the difficulties of the subject. Likewise, I overcame the initial hurdle of preparing for these sessions and organising my time between CoachBright and my own priorities at university. Not to mention to need for refreshing information that I had completely forgotten after finishing my A-Levels a few years ago! However, the entire experience was enriching, and I would honestly volunteer again.
As someone who struggles with self-doubt, my English GCSE teacher took extra time out of his day to help me improve my grades and my confidence. If anything, I wanted to give that same help and become that same figure for my coachee.
Blog Post by: Erika Hayashi
“Learning is not about getting everything right or checking things off a list, it is about nurturing an attitude of perseverance and resilience.”