How to revive an earlier career

Katrina

Katrina, 49, is married and has five children, two of whom live at home. One of her sons has autism and attention deficit disorder. As her sons got older Katrina found she had more time for herself and knew she wanted to do something but wasn’t sure what. She took up an Open University access course, which she passed. This gave her the confidence to take a Return to Nursing Practice course at university, something she’d been thinking about for ten years but didn’t think she’d ever manage to do. Two years on, she is working as a support worker in her local mental health unit. Once her nursing registration comes through she plans to apply for a job as a staff nurse.

Listen to Katrina talking about her return to nursing.

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These are the steps Katrina took to get back to her nursing career.

  1. While caring for her son during his childhood it just wasn’t possible to study or think about returning to work full time.
  2. She did manage a few different jobs while caring – fostering other children and working as a childminder.
  3. As her son grew up it was possible for her to think about returning to work, but she didn’t know where to start. There didn’t seem to be too many jobs around either.
  4. Her local Carers Centre told her she could study for free with The Open University because she was a carer, so she decided to take the plunge.
  5. Katrina started studying alone with a group of other carers as part of a collaborative initiative between the centre and The Open University.
  6. Succeeding with this course then gave her the confidence and impetus to plan her next steps and think about returning to work.
  7. With the support of the carers centre Katrina looked into how she could return to nursing, having the confidence to do a Return to Nursing Practice course.
  8. She has since started working in a mental health unit and is looking forward to becoming a staff nurse again soon.

Katrina completed Y177 Understanding Society (a former OU access module that has been replaced by the Y032 People, Work and Society [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] access course) and a reflection course. These gave her the confidence to do a Return to Nursing Practice course and she’s now planning to return to work as a staff nurse.

Routes into health and social care

Routes into healthcare