To this day I vividly remember recieving my Gold DofE award at St. James's Palace. Standing having my photo taken I realised that, through Bronze, Silver and Gold I'd gone from being a very shy 14 year old to a a mature confident young adult who was able to make things happen.

Bronze and Silver helped me to make new friends, learn new skills and offer something back to my community. For the first time I also took control over what I wanted to achieve, I set goals and went about achieving them.

Gold was something different - it was difficult and hard earned. I broke my leg during my expedition and so fell behind my peers. Suddenly I had a choice give up on it or crack on and make it happen. I did the latter and have never regretted it. I made my own way joining an open expedition and really pushing it forwards myself.

One of the great things about the award is that it doesn't try to be another youth service, instead it allows existing providers to offer young people an internationally recognised framework of achievement. I undertook the award through my local authortity's youth work programme and really benefitted from that.