Jodie Mcnamara

Through her teenage years Jodie made some bad choices in her life by getting in with the wrong crowd, truanting from school and getting involved in crime. She treated her friends and family with disrespect and she felt her life was falling apart and that she was losing everyone that mattered to her. Jodie then started attending her local youth club and started to try and get her life back on track. It was not a smooth journey but attending the youth club built her confidence and self esteem, Jodie realised that some of her youth workers did not help her progress in her development which made her want to make a difference and become a youth worker. Jodie is pursuing her career aspiration to become a youth worker. She is now an Assistant Youth Support Worker at the National Youth Agency and she works on a variety of projects, She said '?I particularly enjoy managing the young advisors for the Barclays Money Skills Advisory Board'. She is also at college doing her Level 3 Diploma in Youth Work Practice, about which she says '?I am passionate about the work I do and it has made a real impact on my life. I enjoy being able to provide support and opportunities to young people: it keeps me on my toes and I enjoy learning and watching a young person's personal and social development'. Jodie has changed her life for the better and is know making a positive impact in her own life and also in other young people's lives. This is a fantastic opportunity for her to demonstrate to young people out there that you can turn your life around!