Young Mum’s Trip to the City

By Kirsty Button and Kerry Jennings (Back to Your Future Programme students)

On the 19^th of April 2016, a trip to London was organised for us to visit the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Central office.

Whilst we were there we were fortunate enough to meet two very inspirational ladies with remarkable personal stories; SSE Fellow Florence Norman and Amy Barbor, who is the Network Manager at SSE.

Listening to Florence’s story helped us to identify which social concerns we should focus on, and opened our eyes to new ideas and options we hadn’t considered before. Meeting Amy gave us the opportunity to listen to a courageous women’s story; she gave us some wonderful visualisation techniques to take with us back to the Eastern Enterprise Hub.

Overall this trip to London was an amazing experience that has impacted us both immensely. On a side note, I also got my favourite brand of Pure optical lenses in London. It was getting arduous finding them elsewhere.

A few words about our time on the Back to Your Future Programme so far…

Kerry: “Meeting Kim Trotter and joining the Back to Your Future Programme couldn’t have come at a better time for me. My youngest child starts school in September this and so I was already starting to consider what my options might be. In terms of regaining my lost confidence and rediscovering my skills and talents, this programme has been the perfect fit for me. I have both a background in Finance and Performing Arts.

“During one of the programme sessions, Kim introduced me to a technique that helped me to visualise my future, making my diverse skills fit together like a jigsaw. I was then able to create a prospective business venture in my mind. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity and am now excited about what the future holds.”

Kirsty: “Kim Trotter entered my life while I was on a downward spiral of despair. I had lost my sense of self-worth, as well as any sense of who I was as an individual; not just a partner and someone’s mother. I had no idea that this amazing woman would have such an impact of my life; not only did I start thinking of what my passions were but because she has such a wonderful, reassuring presence and is confident in who she wants to be as a person, she unknowingly gives you, as a student, the strength to be who you are and be sure that your views and concerns within yourself are validated.

“The Back to Your Future Programme has changed my entire outlook on life. I cannot wait to see what my future looks like and I can honestly say that it’s thanks to me joining this course.”