My Raise the Youth journey began when myself and a group of old youth club friends came together to try to rebuild the fallen youth services that had become practically non-existent in our area because of targeted youth having issues with behaviour. The closure of the youth club had a massive impact on our local community. The CEO of Raise the Youth, along with Ian Hepplewhite and the specialist team, supported myself and my team to complete a youth work qualification and other training. Because of the specialist training support, love and energy that was given to myself I went on to be offered a full time job working at Raise the Youth enabling me to have a complete career change doing a job that is very rewarding. Thank you so much. Kelly Ellis.