Introducing the latest member of the Circle team
Hi I’m Emily, and I was born and raised in London and became interested in psychology through my studies and went on to apply to study psychology at university (glad to say that I was successful!). I studied my undergraduate degree for three years at the University of Chester.
Alongside my studies, I started working as a support worker within a homeless hostel for young people with mental health difficulties. I loved this job as I was able to start putting into practice what I was learning from university. I enjoyed talking to the residents and understanding their lives, struggles, wants and dreams.
There was a 16-year-old girl in the hostel whose mother was in the neighbouring mothers and babies hostel unit, and I just thought to myself ‘what if this young girl had had a different upbringing? Lived in a different environment?’
It was at this point that I knew I wanted to focus, not only on helping other people, but working with families, both parents and children, in order to make sure that the children within that family have the maximum potential to have a great quality of life, and that their parents feel empowered and able to provide that.
I started working as a complex care support worker, working 1-1 with individuals with a range of neurological and physical disabilities. Looking back, I always think it’s weirdly wonderful that I could have full, in-depth conversations with my clients who were non-verbal, just by understanding who they were, their facial expressions and body language. Alongside this job change, I also started studying my masters in Family and Child psychology.
After my studies I moved back to London and worked within the therapeutic services for an adoption charity. This taught me so much about family and children who have experienced trauma being welcomed into a family and the joys and struggles this can bring. After this, I worked as an assistant psychologist within the family safeguarding service at Surrey County council.
Again, I was able to therapeutically work with parents, helping them work through their own individual mental health struggles and potential trauma, so that they can support their child(ren) better.
I got to work alongside drug and alcohol workers and domestic abuse workers, which was such great experience and probably the reason why I’m working at Circle today!
At Circle I will be working with families affected by parental substance misuse, supporting the practical and emotional needs of the parent and child. I aim to bring my experiences into this job role to help others. As this is a part-time role I will I also be working as the CEDAR care coordinator for Women’s Aid.
I’m very excited to start my work with Circle, helping others in whatever capacity I can.
Meet other new Circle team members here:
Jen Ward – Announcing – A New Children’s Resilience Worker for East Lothian – Circle Scotland
Find out more about Circle’s longstanding staff here:
Meet the Circle Team – Staff Insights and Interviews – Circle Scotland
And learn about the social work students that come to Circle:
New Student Placements in our East Lothian and Harbour Projects – Circle Scotland
Meet the New Students at Circle – Circle Scotland
Thanks