In the past 6 months, Sian has shocked and surprised time and time again with her resilience and determination. She has gone from a very shy, quiet helper to an outgoing, confident member of the team.

Sian was a Traineeship learner at the British Heart Foundation in Weston Super Mare. She joined slightly later than her peers and as a result was very nervous. Sian has some confidence issues and tends to worry a lot about getting things wrong; one big issue Sian has faced has been dealing with customers on the phone. This is something she was able to explain to her manager and it was agreed that she wouldn’t have to do that.

Sian has been able to overcome some of her confidence issues in order to help deal with customer problems, orders, admin duties and has been able to build strong working relationships with all departments. Sian was aware that this role would push her to interact with others more and although she was dreading it, took on the challenge.

The feedback received from Sian’s managers is always fantastic and they are always amazed at how she has pushed herself to achieve yet another milestone. Most recently this was to deal with customers on the telephone.Sian took the initiative to create a step by step plan on how she could build up to taking customer calls, this is an amazing achievement, as when we met Sian was adamant that she would never be able to do it!Less than two weeks after this I received an email from Sharon- Sian’s line manager to let me know that Sian had been taking calls!

Sian was also able to show personal strength when others around her were not working as hard or following the rules, Although she was friendly with them, she maintained her professional working ethic and refused to let her standards slip.

The courage Sian has shown in the past six months is outstanding and I feel that she will continue to grow within her role.

Since this case study was compiled, Sian went on to win National Learner of the Month with her Training Provider (Smart TAR) and has successfully gained an employed position with the British Heart Foundation.