School was always a struggle for Pearse, but he says Cadhla is the best thing that has ever happened to him (Picture: Pearse Doherty)
I’ll never forget the moment I found out I was going to be a dad – that phone call changed everything.
I had just turned 14, still a child myself, and time seemed to stand still.
Everyone around me – my teachers, my family, my youth worker – were worried about how becoming a dad would affect me. If I’m honest, I was too. They thought that all the progress I’d been making in school would be lost overnight.
School was always a struggle for me. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t focus on my work. I have ADHD and ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) which not only made learning difficult but had a huge effect on my confidence, especially as I was moved from school to school.
Things started getting better for me when I moved to the St Vincent’s Centre and began The Prince’s Trust Achieve programme.
My teacher, Brenda, showed me that she was in my corner and because she was working hard for me, it made me want to work hard for her as well. I started seeing school as a positive place, my grades improved and my self-confidence began to grow.
Then I found out I was going to become a dad at such a young age and it threatened to derail all I that was beginning to achieve. I didn’t know how I was going to cope and it caused a lot of stress for me and my family.
Pearse with his teacher Brenda, who says his achievements are all the more remarkable given everything the teenager has been through (Picture: Pearse Doherty)
Pearse with Cadhla, taken in the hall of St Vincent’s Centre (Picture: Pearse Doherty)
Usually, when people have a child, they have stable jobs and know they’re going to be able to provide for their children but I didn’t know if I’d be able to do that.
However, when I held my daughter, Cadhla, for the first time, it made something switch inside me. I knew I couldn’t shy away from this responsibility and I realised that life wasn’t just about me anymore.
I wanted to work harder than I had ever worked before just so she could live a happy life. Cadhla is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
We have her Thursday to Monday each week so if I need to study on those days, my parents will help look after her. The rest of the time, she’s with her amazing mummy.
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Cadhla has brought so much positivity to my family and is definitely the boss of the household!
Tragivally, ten months after Cadhla was born, my world shattered when my elder brother took his own life. I was adapting to life as a young dad, struggling with my own mental health, juggling schoolwork and now had to deal with this tidal wave of grief.
In a strange way, it was another huge challenge that made me even more determined to achieve my goals. I want to make my brother proud. He was my idol.
Pearse (R) and his brothers, Odhrán (L) and Ciaran with their children (Picture: Pearse Doherty)
In the summer of 2022, five months after Odhrán’s death, I found out I had achieved the equivalent of eight GCSEs A* to C. Before starting Achieve, I didn’t even think I would have passed one.
I couldn’t have done this without the support of my family nor without the self-belief that my teachers instilled in me.
I am now focused on my goal of becoming a youth worker and plan to do a degree in youth work. I know my own strengths and I’m confident I can be a positive role model for young people who don’t have one.
I want to help people like my brother Odhrán and hope that he’s looking down on me cheering me on.
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Young people in Northern Ireland growing up in communities like mine can feel that their opportunities and futures are limited. I hope I can show them that anything is possible no matter where you’re from or what barriers you face.
To anyone struggling in school or with their mental health, it can get better if you work hard and seek support. There are people there who want to help, you just need to let them in.
‘Pearse’s achievements are all the more remarkable given everything he has been through during his teenage years’
Brenda McMenamin, Pearse’s teacher at the St Vincent’s Centre, Belfast, says:
‘At the St Vincent’s Centre, we teach the Prince’s Trust Achieve programme. For children like Pearse, it allows them to come in at their own level, work at their own speed and shows them that success is not beyond their reach. It helps them to develop life skills and instils the belief that they do have a bright future ahead of them.
‘Pearse was always funny, always chatty and always had opinions on things that were going on in the world around him. He was incredibly likeable but also incredibly adept at disrupting learning in the classroom. The Achieve programme worked for Pearse because he could clearly see the relevance of the knowledge and skills he was being asked to develop. One of the special things about him was that he realised quickly that challenging himself to try things he never thought he could do brought the greatest reward.
Pearse’s achievements are all the more remarkable given everything he has been through during his teenage years. We at St Vincent’s are all immensely proud of him and very excited to have such an amazing role model for our current and future pupils.’
Metro.co.uk is a media partner for the 2023 Prince’s Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards, where Pearse is the winner of the Ascential Education Award.
As told to Amy Carrington
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Just 10 months after becoming a dad, Pearse lost his brother to suicide
