I always knew I wanted to work in mental health. It absolutely fascinated me. The human mind is incredibly powerful and I wanted to find out more. I applied for a health care assistant post in a private mental health hospital, it excited me. I was so excited when they offered me the job! A week before I was due to start I had a phone call asking me if I would like to work in the Occupational Therapy Team, as some of my previous skills matched this role. I didn't know what it meant but I thought why not?
The first day was absolutely terrifying for me. I had never before witnessed being around people with such debilitating conditions and I was overwhelmed. My manager the Occupational Therapist informed me she would not have choosen me if she was in the interview as I had 'no OT experience'. Talk about being welcomed to the team. I was scared, I went home and cried and wondered if I had made a huge mistake. But after a good cry I decided I would give it a chance - I'm glad I did in the end. It was just a lot to take in. I was assigned to the female ward, at the time with nine females to develop the activity timetable and support them to reach their occupational goals.
Over time I got to know all the ladies and their families really well, they were there long term. It was a pleasure to see through the mental illness and see the person behind it. I met some truly wonderful souls who I just loved to work with. I started to make a difference, I could see it. With one lady who had a frontal lobal brain injury and a diagnosis of depression and anxiety, looking after the ward rabbits, specifically in the morning, daily, dramatically reduced her anxiety and her violent outbursts. Incorporating that meaningful activity into her daily routine was life changing for her. For another, going swimming weekly to develop her fitness and just be in the water each week was supporting her to gradually loose weight and develop her confidence swimming in the water. I loved taking her. I loved seeing the smile on her face and the light in her eyes afterwards.
The staff became my family and I was truly happy in this role. I feel I made such a difference. This was my introduction to Occupational Therapy, I knew I had to take it further and go to uni. Uni was never in my life plan prior to this, I was told I was not academic, so I wrote it off. But this had now changed. It may be hard but I was going to achieve this dream. I wanted to be an Occupational Therapist, I wanted to make this happen, so that's exactly what I did. I had to start with an access course at my local college as my GCSE graded were pretty shocking. So this is what I did - the hardest part of it for me was the presentations. They always caused me so much anxiety and still do, years on. But I pushed through and I made it to uni! I will talk about my uni experience in the next blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this so far..........
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