After leaving school and attending college to gain qualifications, Shaun Paul from Glasgow, found it hard to cope in new environments and being around new people, which made the prospect of attending job interviews very daunting.

Wanting to build his confidence as well as his personal and social development skills (PSD) Shaun Paul got in touch with The Prince’s Trust to help him achieve his goals and was pleased to discover that there was still support available during lockdown.

With the support of his youth support worker, Shaun Paul focused on developing his PSD skills by attending online sessions and after two months the difference in him was apparent to his peers and The Trust’s staff.

Shaun Paul said: “I’ve always struggled with confidence. I was in foster care and this experience contributed to my anxiety and low self-belief. When I started with The Trust, I was very shy and during the first online session I only felt comfortable typing in the comments section as I was too nervous to speak.

A month later, I felt much more positive and confident and even gave the group a video tour of my house and introduced them all to my cats! I am proud of how far I’ve come in such a short time. I was motivated to progress onto the Employability sessions that The Trust is offering so I can work on my CV, interview skills to get me ready to take the next step.

Shaun Paul, who is an avid footballer player and is keen to find a career within football as a coach.

He added: “I’m now looking forward to finding opportunities that will help me pursue my goal of having a career in sport and I’m looking at ways to do with this with my Prince’s Trust keyworker. The Trust has helped me find the confidence I needed and I’m excited for the future.”