As part of The Prince's Trust 10-year partnership celebrations with Gap, we have loved catching up with the amazing people, like Katie Carpenter from Stockport, who have made our partnership so special and finding out what positive wellbeing means to them.

“Before finding The Prince’s Trust, Katie was struggling to find work, experiencing low confidence and facing a number of setbacks. But, four years ago, Katie took part in the Gap Get into Retail programme, secured a role in the Stockport store, where she has progressed to a loss prevention specialist and now a supervisor. 

“I always felt like I wanted to do more with my life, but I didn’t know how to start. I really struggled with this and felt judged.

"Before finding The Prince’s Trust, I grew up living at home with my mum, I always had low confidence and shyness was something I really struggled with, especially approaching new people. This led to me feeling really low, and finding a job tough, as sharing ideas and putting myself ‘out there’ was hard.

It was at a meeting at the JobCentre that I found out about The Prince’s Trust and the Get into Retail programme with Gap and I decided to give it a try.  

"Retail was always something I had a passion for, but the customer service part always held me back.

"On the first day of the programme I was anxious knowing that I’d have to meet new people and join in, but everyone was so welcoming and encouraging, which eased all my worries! I was able to put my feelings of judgement aside, and I can’t believe how I overcame my nerves to secure a place on the programme!  

I could not be more proud of myself; I gave the retail course my all. The programme has now made me feel that if I set my mind on something, I can achieve success, which I have now proved as I have started to progress my career in retail. 

"Gap and my manager Frazer have supported me with my confidence and has inspired me to do well at work, I had an aspiration to be promoted to supervisor, and achieved my goal at the end of 2020. 

"I got there by stepping into roles outside of my job spec for example being a loss prevention specialist, which enabled me to utilize the communication skills I had learnt but also gave me a lot of confidence in what I was doing. So all the barriers that were there from a self-belief point of view were broken down and made easier for me to work through with the support of Frazer and the team at gap. 

"I always appreciate being recognised for my good work skills and improvements in my job role, by customers and my colleagues. 

"The confidence that I have built now enables me to support other people when they start their journeys with us through Gap’s Get into Retail programme, and it feels great to be able to give back the same support I received.”