BOOST Case Study – Anna Webster

I have always believed you can strive to understand more about yourself; the way your mind works, your strengths and weaknesses and how you communicate with others. I now believe it’s not something you have to do completely on your own.

The Boost course highlighted this for me throughout the days. Historically I have been someone who likes to work alone and although I have always had the ability to connect and work within a team, deep down I’d rather have been doing the tasks by myself. Yet for me having a team of people around that I had to work with, enabled me to see that personal development is personal because it applies to you, not because you have to do it alone.

The course is special because it’s structured in a way that allows the content to be taught to the individuals in the room, but then encourages them to be creative and add to that content. People bounce ideas off of each other and that’s where the realisations and eureka moments happen.

For example –  one of the groups on our course created a page where we had to draw ourselves and label all the good qualities we have and then share that with the team. Why I remember this exercise though is I realised I don’t ever tell myself ‘I am worth it’ and since then every day – I look in the mirror and tell myself ‘I am worth this career, I am worthy of a good life because I work hard for this and I deserve it. I am beautiful on the inside and out.’ Something as simple as writing my positive traits on a piece of paper has helped me on my journey since I’ve changed my inner dialogue with myself. My confidence has grown immensely both at work and at home. The best part though is all of this came from a peer who decided to do this activity as part of the course.

I’ve learnt that ideas are the foundations, the building blocks for adaptability and the confidence you gain from the course helps you follow your ideas through so they can become a reality. My biggest achievement since this course is securing a place at university. The Boost course was the key that I needed to help me unlock a dream and convert that to a reality because now, I can be assertive and I can be confident in my abilities and goals. I do think that each Boost course will be different – but that’s the beauty of it because it’s tailored to the groups that are on the course to help and guide them in reaching their potential. To have the confidence too actively follow dreams and actualise them.

Anna Webster

Landscape Projects Apprentice

Braintree District Council | Causeway House, Bocking End, Braintree, CM7 9HB