Case Study

Can I be in George’s group?

27 Nov 2024

…This is a regular request from young people commencing their week-long National Citizen Service (NCS) adventure.
George, a fun-loving, Lidl-merchandise-wearing team leader for the South West Lakes Trust has a disarming sense of humour and natural affinity with the teens in his care. He also has his own very personal reasons for wanting to help everyone have the trip of their lives.

George, 23, from Poole in Dorset, is a full-time carer for his autistic younger brother, Saul. Yet he still takes every opportunity for a busman’s holiday, be it volunteering twice weekly as an instructor for the Dorset Army Cadet Force or working every summer at NCS residential camps.

“I just love youth work and everything that NCS stands for,” says George, who often dons a bucket hat as a fun icebreaker. “Meeting a diverse set of people and having fun. I’ve met thousands of young people and learn so much from them. I like to think I’ve made a difference in their lives, helped them to be themselves.

“I’m also here for my own reasons. It’s respite from caring for my brother, it really is my holiday for the year. I can unleash my personality a little; wearing jokey clothing like my Lidl hat is a great barrier breaker with new young people nervous about starting out on the programme.”

NCS is a fun-filled, government funded week away from home available to all 16 and 17 year-olds. The residential experiences are managed by Ingeus and its partners, including the sites at Adventure Oakhampton, Radford Lake, and Siblyback Lake where George has worked. It offers young people the chance to gain confidence, strengthen their resilience, and develop life skills by meeting new people and trying new activities in an unfamiliar setting.

George remembers those first day nerves himself, having attended NCS as a school leaver back in 2017. One of six siblings, at the time of his GCSEs George had a complex family life. With his parents involved in an emotionally-charged legal case, George learned to take responsibility for himself and his siblings. His escape was competing at high-level jujitsu, becoming a black-belt; taking up archery; and volunteering at local youth clubs.

“I didn’t have a hugely fun childhood, apart from when I found NCS,” George adds, who was diagnosed with dyslexia at college. He also narrowly avoided missing his NCS calling when a careers meeting ironically meant he missed the NCS promotional assembly at school. It was only his friends enthusiastically talking about the programme that encouraged George to apply. He went on to be a representative of the NCS regional youth board, and volunteered during subsequent summers, before starting to work for NCS summer seasons in 2019.

“As I know, you have no idea what lives some of these young people lead back at home and the mental health and social anxiety battles some face. There’s a lot of talking goes on and I share my story. I’m the same generation as the people I support. If I can help them to enjoy being young, have a laugh and learn new things about themselves then that’s job done – in fact holiday done – for me.”