Claire McLaughlan

Claire was referred to our charity in 2020 by Women’s Aid. Her confidence was at rock bottom, her anxieties were high and she was extremely emotional and traumatized.

Slowly, through a mix of Personal Safety advice, practical self-defence training and informal counselling, Claire begun to live her life again. She decided she wanted to become an Instructor with us; “I actually really hope to work with women coming through abuse. I really believe I can help these women rebuild their lives by finding their confidence, just like I did through my training.” With this renewed self-confidence, Claire also decided to become a Personal Trainer to “help people achieve a healthier and happier life” and she has already run Spin classes in her local gym and aims to pass her PT course in the next few months. Claire has also started volunteering for Barnardos as a befriender as she “wanted to do something that would make a difference to young people”. On top of all of this, Claire is now studying to become a Paediatric Nurse and has recently qualifies as a Nursing Assistant with the NHS. She plans to get into university this year and be qualified in 3 years.