Danielle Brown is the founder of the Youth Life Project, a new charity which aims to show troubled young people practical ways of dealing with their problems. The 27-year-old lives in Haydon End with daughter Kyisha, eight, and one-year-old son Garvey

IT’S not easy to compose your thoughts for an interview when your one-year-old is teething and you’ve only had three hours’ sleep, but Danielle Brown managed the task with aplomb.

She has faced far more challenging situations. She doesn’t care to go into detail about those situations, but they mean her empathy with the young people she helps is real.

“I had a horrible childhood,” she said. “I had experiences of a lot of bad things and a lot of bad people when I was growing up.

“There was never anyone there, who I was aware of, who helped young people. I never felt there was anyone I could go to.

“From age ten I always knew that I would work with children when I was older.”

Danielle is from Walcot. Her mother is a bakery worker and she has a sister.

“I have always had a mothering nature,” Danielle said. “My sister is only three years younger than me but I’ve always been like a mother to her.

“When you grow up going through things as a child, you grow up protective about those around you because you never want them to experience the things you did.

Leaving Headlands School at 16, Danielle immediately set about fulfilling her ambition to work with children, getting a job in a Broome Manor nursery.

She did that for two years, but left when she was expecting her daughter Kyisha. Her ambition remained undimmed, however.

“I became involved in youth work about three years ago when I left Walcot,” she said. “I did some experience in Walcot and Parks Youth Centre, run by the University of Bath. They got me in touch with other groups.”

Her own past has stood her in good stead when helping troubled young people.

She recalls one example in particular: “I was able to help a young person who had experienced something that I had experienced,” she said.

“I also met people who had turned to drugs and alcohol and blamed their childhood. I’m a strong believer in not using your negative past to live in a negative way.

“I’ve managed to take my bad past and deal with it in a positive way, and I believe everybody can do that.

“If you’re negative and feel you have to turn to drugs and alcohol, you’re going to make yourself more negative. If you’ve experienced bad people in your life you’re letting them win by living that way.

“If you turn to drink and drugs, you have made that choice, but there is still that other option where you use your bad experiences to give others advice.”

Danielle hadn’t originally planned to set up the Youth Life Project but the August riots convinced her that time was of the essence.

“We’re targeting youth unemployment, drug issues, health issues, childhood obesity, bullying, education – I think everything that a young person needs to be a well-rounded individual, we’re going to target,” she said.

“I know it’ll be big and I won’t stop until I’ve got that.”

The Youth Life Project has a Facebook page, and Danielle can be contacted at Danielleyouthlifeproject@ gmail.com