Child P was referred to Looking Forward by her secondary school in summer 2018. P had been the victim of an assault and was struggling with their mental health; she was at risk of self-harming. Her referrer reported that she was isolated at school, required learning support and had been bullied by peers. The Looking Forward project was an opportunity for P to improve her self-esteem and manage difficult feelings whilst engaging with an activity she enjoyed.
P’s engagement was consistent and enthusiastic initially. In her first term it was observed that “she is confident and supportive and a team player. She has written a poem for this term’s performance and has displayed real team spirit by sharing it and… allowed it to be worked with by the others.” Despite P’s fragile mental health, she always presents as positive and motivated in sessions. However, she occasionally risked overwhelming other participants by habitually taking on a leadership role, although facilitators observed “she is showing developing skills in self-awareness and ensuring other members of the group are included.” Successive session leaders have all remarked on how P’s positive involvement often motivates more reluctant participants.
P moved to the older Looking Forward group in Spring 2020. However, the pandemic interrupted P’s consistent engagement, and P acknowledged at this time the importance coming to the building had for her, reflecting that she had a ‘Pegasus face’ and a ‘home face’; this split made engaging P online in 2020 difficult, and it was also clear that the next developmental target must be to support P to translate her ‘Pegasus confidence’ into her home, and wider, life.
Despite the restrictions of 2020, P began to enquire about other opportunities that were available at Pegasus. Pegasus staff provided information to P and her parent about the organisation’s wider programme, and she sought support from Pegasus to apply for and access post-16 education opportunities. P also began her involvement with Pegasus Young Company and took part in 2 productions between 2020 and 2022. With support and guidance from Pegasus she successfully started a new, post-16 course of study in performing arts in September 2020, which she enjoyed greatly and graduated with a distinction in summer 2022.
For P, involvement at Pegasus through Looking Forward has been the gateway to enriching relationships and positive developments in her self-esteem, interests and learning. When asked to reflect on her involvement at Pegasus, P said it was “less stressful than school…It’s helped me so much. It’s made me more confident and made me feel more social with people and it has given me more connections with other people as well.” During the last 3 years, P has remained involved with Pegasus, taking on paid assistant roles in drama classes and inclusion projects, and working regularly as a duty manager at the theatre. She recently left her employment at Pegasus to take up a place at a drama school in Paris.
