Our Values.
At GRIT, our values are at the heart of everything we do.
From how we engage with young people, to how we make decisions, and how every team member, process and function operates.
GRIT’s six values guide our strategy, our culture, and our daily choices.
Below is how each value comes to life across our work, influencing how we deliver services, govern the charity, and run our operations.
1. Wellbeing
Wellbeing sits at the heart of everything we do. By connecting the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of a young person’s life, we create the conditions for meaningful change, growth, and progress.
How We Work with Young People
- Our 1:1 and group services embed emotional regulation, movement and grounding as part of the coaching process.
- We regularly check the emotional state of the young people we work with; if someone is overwhelmed, we adapt the pace and offer safe pauses.
- Self-care practices are woven into our sessions (breathing, slow reflection, gentle movement) so that young people don’t burn out in the process of exploring challenges.
How We Work as a Team
- Our staff and volunteers are supported with supervision, peer reflection, wellness check-ins, and opportunities for personal development.
- We design workload, timetables and breaks with wellbeing in mind. Ensuring that our coaches are well supported in caring for their young people.
- In planning and strategy, we consider what sustainability means for our team. Remembering that we are a small charity, so not overextending ourselves but working to the capacity we have, with rest and flexibility built in.
- We recognise the importance of relationship before task and take time to check in with team members before internal meetings. Coaches are also encouraged to check in before working with young people. This creates rapport, trust, connection and emotional readiness.
2. Equality
We honour all young people and GRIT team members equally. Regardless of background, identity, ability, label(s) or life experience, working to see the person for who they are.
How We Work with Young People
- We aim to make our services accessible to all: physically, cognitively, emotionally. When possible, we adapt language, pace, or format to the young person’s needs. We do face some challenges with physical access to our gym, but we can offer online or 1:1 support should that not work for a young person.
- We actively challenge stigma, and create a space where differences are welcomed, not judged. We see a young person for more than the challenges they are facing, but who they are and their potential.
- We monitor who accesses our programmes (geographically, demographically) and strive to offer our services for free, where funding allows. Where funding doesn’t allow support, we offer competitive paid for options that support the young person and the continuation of the charity.
How We Work as a Team
- Recruitment, training and volunteer policies are underpinned by fairness, diversity and inclusion.
- We regularly review our policies and procedures to make sure they’re fair and inclusive, taking steps to remove any unintended barriers.
- We challenge our own beliefs and thoughts with a commitment to continuous education for our team and how we present ourselves.
3. Safety
Safety is at the heart of GRIT and our Four Corners Method. We work to create safe, trusted spaces where young people feel able to open up, explore challenges, and grow. Without safety, trust and vulnerability cannot flourish, and neither can the people we support.
How We Work with Young People
- We create clear and consistent boundaries, confidentiality agreements, safeguarding policies, and respectful approaches.
- Coaches and facilitators are trained in trauma awareness, safeguarding, active listening and de-escalation.
- Young people are informed about their rights, what to expect in sessions, and how to pause or raise difficulty.
- The environment (physical or virtual) is structured to reduce triggers, enable comfort, and allow retreat when needed.
How We Work as a Team
- We maintain robust safeguarding procedures and training, background checks, risk assessments for venues, and regular policy review.
- Our coaches are offered weekly supervision and safeguarding to ensure the continued safety of our young people and the team – and if needed, calling upon other services to support them.
- We take data privacy and confidentiality seriously, protecting the personal information of everyone we work with. GRIT meets the standards set out in the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit.
- We ensure psychological safety for staff: open communication, feedback culture, support for mistakes, and safe spaces for concerns to be raised.
4. Integrity
We do what we say we’ll do. We’re open, consistent, and genuine, showing up with honesty and staying true to our values in every part of our work.
How We Work with Young People
- We are clear about what we can and cannot do; we don’t overpromise change or outcomes and we will signpost or ask for additional support or advice should we need it.
- We honour commitments (appointments, confidentiality, follow-ups) and gently hold young people too to agreements made together.
- If something needs to change (dates, approach, goals), we communicate openly and renegotiate.
How We Work as a Team
- We’re open and accountable in how we run the charity. Our finances, governance, and reporting are transparent to the Charity Commission, our funders, trustees, and the community we support.
- In policymaking and strategy, we avoid hidden agendas; we model consistency between stated values and implementation.
- We create and nurture a culture where feedback is valued and mistakes are acknowledged, using them as opportunities to learn and grow.
5. Commitment
We’re dedicated to young people’s growth and to our mission. We stay consistent, keep learning, and work to maintain quality in everything we do.
How We Work with Young People
- We offer continuity through regular sessions, consistency of coach where possible, and ongoing review, helping young people feel supported and held throughout their journey.
- Even when progress is slow or setbacks occur, we stand alongside our young people knowing that change is rarely linear.
- We encourage perseverance and resilience. Modelling commitment ourselves in the face of challenge leads by example to our young people.
How We Work as a Team
- In strategy, we avoid short-term fixes and instead, plan for long-term sustainability, infrastructure and resilience.
- We commit to training, support and professional development so staff and volunteers stay equipped, engaged and growing.
- We allocate funding and resources with intention and follow-through, not ad hoc or reactionary.
- Every team member is trained in our Four Corners Method, so its principles shape everything we do, from working directly with young people to the way we run our admin and operations.
6. Freedom
We see freedom as the space to be yourself and to grow into who you’re becoming, with the autonomy to make choices, learn, and shape your own direction.
How We Work with Young People
- Across our services we encourage young people to explore what feels right for them, co-create goals, and discover their own direction.
- We resist forcing formulas; instead, offer frameworks, prompts and support for youth-led insight.
- Whenever possible, we step back, trusting that the young person holds wisdom and capacity.
- We encourage creation and use of boundaries based on an individual’s values, often coming back to them as a grounding point when things change.
How We Work as a Team
- Staff and volunteers are empowered with autonomy, flexibility and accountability and the freedom to innovate within our mission.
- We encourage a culture of open dialogue, voice and participation, allowing ideas and perspectives to surface freely (within safe boundaries).
If you’d like to read more about our values and the governance we uphold with them, please see our policies for more information.