Winner of the Inspire! Health & Wellbeing Award
Another inspirational success story.
Success Stories - Clare Louise James
At an extremely low point in her life suffering with depression, struggling with family relationships and having previously being told she would die if she did nothing to help her anorexia nervosa, Clare James felt she wasn’t living, but merely ‘existing’.
After encouragement from her adult learner daughter, mum Clare reluctantly joined a class put on by WEA YMCA CC Cymru. It was here she surprised herself by quickly developing a love for learning. She enrolled on a variety of courses on offer, including Psychology and Criminology.
She has now progressed to volunteering with a mental health charity in Rhondda Cynon Taff and has just accepted a paid Learner Support role with Addysg Oedolion Cymru | Adult Learning Wales.
Clare’s transformation has improved her home life, and her parents have said they no longer worry about her constantly as they can see she’s “grabbed hold of life” again.
Clare has also noticed a dramatic difference in her self-esteem, and reflects, “I got to a point where I couldn’t see a way forward, I thought my life was over. I would isolate myself and I withdrew from the world. Walking through that classroom door was the hardest thing I’ve ever done – but now I’ll never look back. My zest for life has returned - I’m back to me again and I want to give back. The world is my oyster now.”
Clare has now set her sights on teaching and is looking at college courses to help her progress. She says, “I love nothing more than helping people. I’d love to be a teacher and I know now that I can do it.”
Our best wishes to Clare and for her future.
Success stories
If you have been successful as a result of one of our courses, we would love to hear about it! Success stories are so important in encouraging potential learners to put themselves first and succeed. Please get in touch if you have a story you would like to share to inspire other
Check out our courses
Join us
Become a learner, a tutor, partner or a member! Whatever you'd like to do, we would love for you to be a part of what we do.
Contact us
