Across the North-east, businesses are rightly focused on skills, recruitment and the future workforce. Employers need young people who can communicate, work in teams, adapt under pressure and believe they have something valuable to contribute.
Those qualities do not suddenly appear when a young person applies for a job, apprenticeship or university place. They are built much earlier.
The Polar Academy is a teenage mental health charity empowering vulnerable young people and restoring their confidence to unlock their true potential.
We see young people arrive with complex and often multiple challenges. A large proportion of our teenagers have experienced bullying, anxiety or depression, and some are coping with the impact of trauma, neglect, or bereavement. Many are socially isolated and have very low confidence. Many describe themselves as ‘invisible’.
Every child and family is unique, but every child and family is struggling.
Our programme changes that – it is not a ‘sticking plaster’. We invest over a year working with our teens to prove how capable they are.
Through an intensive year-long physical and mental wellbeing programme, outdoor learning and family support, young people develop confidence, resilience, leadership skills and improve mental wellbeing enabling them to better manage current and future challenges.
The programme prepares our teens for something quite unique and special and something most adults will never experience - a 10-day winter sledge-hauling and scientific expedition in Arctic Greenland or Finland. However, this is not the whole story. The real transformation begins in the months leading to the expedition, when the teens, who once avoided social interaction or challenges, learns to encourage others, lead and believe in themselves again.
That matters in business.
The young people who learn essential life skills and resilience today will become the apprentices, employees, entrepreneurs and community leaders of tomorrow. Confidence, teamwork and determination are not ‘soft’ outcomes. They are the foundations of employability.
In 2026/27, The Polar Academy is working with young people from Ellon Academy in Aberdeenshire. This is an opportunity for the local business community to play a direct role in helping young people overcome these challenges and build the skills and belief they need to succeed in life.
The Polar Academy is fully reliant on charitable donations, corporate partners and sponsorship. If a business or individual would like to support future talents in Grampian discover their true potential, they can support the programme through donations, sponsorship, workplace fundraising or gifts in-kind.
To find out more or partner with us, please visit www.thepolaracademy.org or contact Val Smith via, val@thepolaracademy.org.