We’ve been chatting with Vicky, one of our Mental Health Nurse Apprentices, about her role and experience in our exciting apprenticeship programme!
Day to day, our mental health nurses interact with a variety of people, families and carers – providing, leading, coordinating and evaluating care that is compassionate, evidence-based, and person-centred.
Over the last 12 months, our learning and development team has made incredible progress in developing our offer for apprentices, with a range of apprenticeships all the way up to level 7.
Ryan Candlish, Head of Learning and Organisational Development, speaks about the benefits of our apprenticeship programme:
“We offer a huge range of apprenticeships to our teams and have really seen the benefit of investing in our people. The nursing apprenticeship supports people to achieve their career goals and keep an income from their job, this is really important for the future of our staff and the people we support.”
Let’s find out more about Vicky’s role!
Could you describe your role in three words?
“Rewarding, challenging and changeable.”
What’s a day in your life like?
“Every day is different, and comes with its unique challenges. Some days are laid back, relaxing, and full of fun activities.
Others are rewarding in the sense that you feel you can help change someone’s life for the better, and you can support someone when they are struggling.”
What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning?
“Family, my dog, and my work family. Also I need to always have a holiday booked, I think having something to look forward to is important!”
What is the most fulfilling thing about your work?
“Each day is a chance to get to know people who are unique and have lives full of twists and turns, and your role is to help them achieve their goals, and to help them in a safe professional environment where they feel heard and seen. Getting to know people and see how our service users can thrive.”
What is the most challenging thing about your work?
“Some days are difficult. Not every day is easy, and we are there for our service users when they have hard days. The most challenging part is having patience and understanding when things feel uncomfortable. But your work colleagues are the best source of support on these days.”
What are you most excited about achieving through your role?
“As a nurse apprentice, I’m looking forward to qualifying and being a key worker. This will be a great opportunity to work alongside someone who has a challenge and try to help resolve issues directly.”
Vicky also kindly shared with us an insight into the opportunity to join our apprenticeship programme:
“I’m very privileged to have been offered a position with the apprenticeship programme, this has offered me an opportunity for personal development, which I felt was unattainable beforehand.
“I feel very grateful to Everyturn Mental Health for providing me with this opportunity and enabling me to achieve my personal goals. The start of the course has been very exciting, and the university has been accommodating and very keen to support people who already work in a nursing environment, to get the most out of their experiences, and use this to support the learning process.”
We’re really looking forward to keeping up with Vicky’s experience and progress in our apprenticeship programme. To find out more about the fantastic opportunities we offer, please visit our careers page.