From Lonely Teen to Youth Mentor: This is Gwyneth’s Full Circle Story

“I came for tchoukball,” Gwyneth smiled. “But I stayed for everything else.”

She was only 12 when she first stepped into the YGOS Ang Mo Kio centre. It started as just another CCA activity after primary school. Nothing too serious. But she kept coming back.

“I’d rather be here than at home,” she shared. “There was a lot of tension with my parents. The centre became my safe haven.”

Tuesdays and Fridays became her rhythm. The space felt different from anywhere else. It was calm, familiar, and full of people who listened.

One of those people was Anabel, a mentor who journeyed with Gwyneth for nearly five years.

“She really taught me how to talk about my emotions. Back then I was just confused all the time, but she helped me figure things out.”

Still, the hardest part for Gwyneth wasn’t just what was going on at home. It was her friendships.

“Even though I had a lot of friends, I still felt lonely,” she admitted. “Sometimes I’d see them hanging out without me. I’d start to overthink. Like maybe they didn’t like me anymore.”

Instead of saying anything, she kept herself busy. She jumped into other friend groups, tried to move on, but it left her feeling drained.

Then one day, a mentor asked her something that shifted things: “Have you ever thought about your attachment style?”

“I realised I’m an anxious type. I tend to worry a lot, read into things. But once I understood that, I could talk to my friend properly. We ended up becoming close again.”

That conversation helped her see herself differently, and it made her want to give back.

She started helping out at the centre in small ways. Eventually, she became an intern.

“I used to observe how the mentors showed care. How they listened, encouraged and supported others. I learned a lot from them.”

Now, Gwyneth has just graduated from ITE Nursing, but she’s seriously thinking about social work or maybe even going full-time in youth work.

“I want to be for others what my mentors were for me. The best part is when a youth finally opens up to you, and you can tell they feel safe.”

She’s not playing tchoukball as much these days, but she’s still around, still showing up every Tuesday and Friday. Just in a different way now.

Because sometimes healing doesn’t look dramatic. It looks like someone coming back, again and again, to a place that feels safe.

At YGOS, this is what we hope to be.

A space where youths feel seen, heard, and known.

And even when they grow up, they’ll know they still belong here.