A career supporting children and their families

From a very young age I knew I wanted to work with children. I was fortunate that throughout my GCSEs and A levels, I had the opportunity to complete different work experience schemes, which varied from schools to children's wards and the ambulance service. These experiences strengthened my desire to work with children and I decided I wanted to complete a degree in children's nursing. I secured a place on the children's nursing degree at Keele University (an intake of only 11) and I graduated as a paediatric nurse in 2008.

Towards the end of my degree, it was made clear that paediatric nursing jobs were rare but, despite this, I successfully gained a staff nurse position in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Birmingham Children's Hospital. To be honest, PICU wouldn't have been my first choice, so to say that I was nervous would be an understatement, but I was excited to start my nursing journey.