It’s hard to imagine what it’s like training to be a mental health social worker.

Learning on the job with us, you’re balancing the demands of a full-time position with academic studies.

And that job isn’t just any old job. It directly affects people’s lives.

It can be tough.  But time and again we hear what a privilege it is.

Sharing the highs and the lows

We’ve been following Ben, Izzy and Tracey from our Class of 2022 through their training.

Right from their very first day, they’ve been keeping in touch with us, sharing the highs and the lows of their own training journeys.

They’re passed the half-way mark now: fully qualified social workers, in the second year of our programme. Hear from them yourselves, as they tell us about the past year.

 

Three people, three journeys

Working in different areas of the country, each at different stages in their lives and with their own personal reasons for joining, they have their own unique experience to share.

• Working in maternity for years, Tracey felt she had more to give and wanted to support people living with mental health needs. She’s not only moved career, but home as well, moving from East Sussex to join her husband in Cornwall.
• Izzy joined us, previously worked as a support worker but was keen to help people as a social worker, just as her brother’s social worker had helped him and their family.  She’s training with us in an NHS trust in London.
• Ben had enjoyed a successful career as an opera singer, but supporting his grandparents through illness and loss made him realise he wanted to be that support for other people.  And that led him to mental health social work and our programme.  He’s training with us in a local authority in Cheshire.

If you missed them before, you’ll find their previous pieces in our stories page.