At age 17, Sasha was unhappy and stuck in a dead-end job. Her college studies didn’t really interest her, her life was easy and predictable and more often than not, she took the easy option instead of risking failure. Her lack of confidence and self-belief was holding her back from doing things she really wanted to do.

She decided that taking part in an Outward Bound Skills for Life Award course might help her make a fresh start, but she brought her fear of failure with her: “I thought I was going to end up going home early. I really had no confidence in me being able to do it. That was the same feeling I had when it came to university or moving out or just kind of exposing myself to situations where I'm vulnerable. I was just nervous about the rejection part.”​

After 19 days of trying new things, overcoming challenges and experiencing success, that all changed. Sasha felt confident enough to go for it, to take a risk and to push herself to achieve her goals.

“The course totally just re-bolted my brain and it made me realise how unhappy I was before. So when I got back home, I quit all the things that made me unhappy. I stopped associating with people that made me unhappy and I'm doing art classes now. I'm going out on walks with my dog. I've applied to a job that I actually want to do that's going to make me happy. I decided I want to go to university and I'm good enough to go to university. I'm going to move away from home which has always been a really scary thought for me.​"