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Isle Of Wight Teenager One Of Four New Youth Ambassadors For UKSA

The inspirational Lottie Butchers

A teenager from the Isle of Wight is one of four youth ambassadors announced by UKSA on World Mental Health Day earlier this week.

The new youth ambassadors will take on the role of being the voice of authority and motivation for young people training with the charity.

The Island's own Lottie Butchers, 17, is undertaking her second year in the Maritime Foundation Programme.

She said:

"By starting the Maritime Foundation course a little over a year ago, I have been given opportunities and have had experiences that I never thought were possible.

"I have overcome different barriers, but this wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible help and support from the welfare, education and watersports teams.

"All the skills and different qualifications that I gained during first year of education have helped me deliver sessions, whether this was on the water or in a classroom.

"I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a UKSA ambassador as I feel I will be able to provide an insight to those I meet on what I do, my experience and my bright future ahead."

The other ambassadors are Harrison Alvey, 23 from Eastbourne, Henry Griffiths, 18, from Portugal, and Badr Ahmed Badr, 17 from Birmingham.

Kim Fry, Safeguarding and Welfare Manager, added:

“One of the areas which the youth ambassadors will be responsible for is offering peer to peer support to other young people and starting those conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

"By talking to other young people, it can instil hope for improvement and combat feelings of loneliness if past experiences are shared."

For more information on UKSA, please visit www.uksa.org

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