Opening doors creates opportunities. Opportunities create change.
Recently, our MasteringME young people absolutely smashed their work experience at the Mastering Diversity Conference alongside Bernie Davies. It was a powerful reminder of what can happen when young people are given meaningful opportunities to participate, contribute, and be seen for what they can do.
A huge thank you to Bernie Davies for opening doors, creating opportunities and, most importantly, trusting our young people to step through them.
Building Confidence, Resilience, and Belonging
When employers and organisations create genuine opportunities for young people to experience the world of work, the impact can be life-changing. It is about so much more than developing employability skills—it is about making the future visible.
Real work experience helps young people understand what workplaces look like, build connections, and see that they have a place and a contribution to make. It builds confidence, independence, resilience, and belonging. It shifts how a young person sees themselves and what they begin to believe might be possible.
Sometimes it starts with something as simple as someone saying:
“There is a place for you here. We believe you can do this.”
Real Impact: Corey’s Story
Each young person brings different strengths, different challenges, and a different story. For Corey, being part of this experience helped him feel more confident, less anxious, and more connected to the real world.
During the conference, our young people grew in confidence, took responsibility, solved problems, and began to see themselves differently—as capable, valued, and able to contribute. Because participation grows when people are given the opportunity to participate.
Experiencing the Future Today
Bernie helped us create an experience that allowed our young people not simply to prepare for the future, but to begin experiencing themselves differently within it.
Never underestimate the power of opportunity to change a young person’s story about who they are and what they can become. That is the power of an open door.