What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
My 16 year old frequently announced, “I don’t know what I want to do with my life” and, as a sensible, grown woman, I frequently responded with “join the queue. Neither do I!”
I joined an education course, but was worried that teaching wasn’t quite the right fit for me. I loved working with kids, especially the ones that were struggling, but how could I make a career out of that? I had absolutely no idea.
With my interest in mental health, I applied to the Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST) for my placement. I helped deliver a parenting course, was involved in Theraplay and had an overview of the services MAST provides in South Yorkshire, which was great. But it was a short presentation at the end of placement that helped me figure out my path.
MAST and The Sheffield Children’s Hospital were collaborating on research looking at links between ADHD and sleep. This was just my kind of thing, so I asked if I could be involved in the project. This wasn’t possible because of Local Authority regulations but I figured the hospital might be able to get me involved in a different way. They couldn’t, but they recommended that I contact the Children’s Sleep Charity in Doncaster.
I nearly didn’t. I don’t like ‘bothering’ people and I’d been ‘rejected’ twice, but the subject was so compelling I forced myself to call and volunteer for the organisation.
Within a few days I met the head of the charity, Vicki Dawson and her right arm woman Lauren and we just gelled. We talked for ages and they explained how important sleep is to family health and well-being and how the charity was expanding rapidly. I had called at just the right time. Vicki needed a sleep practitioner in Sheffield, so invited me first to a sleep workshop to see if I liked the look of it, then to training, funded by the charity and finally, to Westminster to see them present their Sleep Manifesto. It has been amazing.
I am optimistic that my future career could be with the Children’s Sleep Charity, but if this doesn’t happen, I have gained some excellent work experience and support for my dissertation. I have networked with other people in the charity sector and know this is what I want to do with my life. Now I’ve just got to sort out my 16 year old!
