My year at IJP by Tallulah

My year at IJP by Tallulah

I can’t believe I’ve been at IJP a year now. Even more so, I can’t believe what this past year has brought to my life.

I’ve said this a few times, but my life has never changed in so many ways in such a short space of time. It sort of feels like I stepped on a rollercoaster and it hasn’t stopped. The most exciting rollercoaster I’ve ever been on.

This morning I was thinking back to this exact day last year… (Below…this was my first day!)

I was on an early train from Norwich (my hometown) to Liverpool Street, about to begin my first day of work. I remember feeling super excited, but I was also incredibly anxious. I remember I couldn’t keep my feet still the whole journey. I’d spent the past year really struggling with my mental health, relying on my mum to take care of me and do pretty much everything – I was rarely trusted to be alone, never went out by myself and I found it a challenge to even buy myself a coffee. Yet suddenly, I was about to leap into the unknown – a new and much bigger city, knowing almost no one – BUT with the opportunity to do a job which is my absolute passion – filmmaking.

I remember after my first week I was completely buzzing and soon I began to grow in confidence and overcame so many of the things I was anxious about/found challenging before… But most importantly, I was making steps into doing what I’ve always wanted to do and learning heaps along the way.

Fast forward to a year later… I’m now on a train from London to Manchester, by myself, for my first night away for a shoot with our professional freelancers (I’ll talk more about this in our next post!).

I’m now working full time and living independently in London. I’ve been on so many shoots, made my own films for clients, edited films for clients, made a website, attended events (including going into the House of Commons!), learnt to network, made friends in and out of work… the list goes on. (And yes – I am now able to order my own coffee!).

So many incredible things which would have seemed impossible a year ago – and probably would’ve been impossible without IJP and the trainee scheme. Of course it’s been challenging – but I’ve learnt to see these challenges as positives and that’s allowed me to move forward massively in terms of my mental health recovery.

This is why I want to say a big thank you to the IJP team and all of our clients. What a year it’s been!

I can’t wait to see what the future has in store…

Tallulah