Chloe’s story

Chloe was in her final year at Nottingham Trent University when she did a 3-day Grit programme. Chloe is from an Armed Forces family and was the first in her family to go to university.

I was in a rough place. I was not good mentally, really low. I’d been having suicidal thoughts and the week after I did the Grit programme I was diagnosed with depression. I didn’t want to be a burden on my friends so I’d been lonely and isolated. I didn’t leave the house except to go to lectures.

But in the workshop I opened right up to the group. I was able to be vulnerable, to cry. It was such a supportive space. We got to know each other’s stories. We connected. I realised that I wasn’t alone as I thought I was, that other people were struggling, not holding it together.

By the end of the programme we were all setting up coffee dates and arranging study sessions. I’ve now got a group I can talk to about stuff. And they get me out of the house: I walk into the city, we meet, study together, and I walk back home.  It gives me some structure, some focus, a sense of purpose and achievement.

After I got my diagnosis it was Grit that gave me the focus, the motivation, the determination, to get myself extensions for assignments, counselling and receive the support I’m entitled to.

People would often come to me for a shoulder to cry on but when things got difficult mentally for me I pushed everyone away. Grit showed me the value of simply being a listening ear, how I don’t always need to say anything or give them some kind of advice or answer. How I’m still able to be there for them. It’s made me feel appreciated, wanted, that I can contribute. It’s made me feel more like myself.

Grit was life changing. I am determined to make it through, to graduate, to get an incredible job working in conservation. Grit gave me my fight back. Everyone should do it.