Making my caring experience count

Figure 4.2 Naomi (Library image)

Naomi is 24 and a single parent. She left school at 15 with no qualifications and before having her daughter she worked in call centres. Her daughter, who has just started school, is visually impaired because she has albinism. Caring for her daughter has changed Naomi’s ambitions and she has decided she would like to develop a career in social work.

These are the steps Naomi has taken from making that decision to starting to gain experience and qualifications that will lead her towards achieving that goal.

1. Naomi decided she wanted to get qualifications to give her daughter a better life. Her daughter inspired her to get started. She decided she wanted to do something in social care.
2. As she needed qualifications and experience, Naomi looked into volunteering and studying.
3. She has good support from her mum and her gran, and her brother suggested she try The Open University.
4. Naomi heard about an advert for a Children’s Hearing Panel member, applied and was accepted. This experience gave her an insight into social work, which she would like to pursue as a career.
5. She started the health and social care course with The Open University. She would prefer to be in college with more face-to-face learning but knows she’d be financially worse off doing that.
6. Naomi has applied to do further voluntary work to support parents, giving her even more insight into the kind of work undertaken by social workers.

Naomi has started K101 An Introduction to Health & Social Care [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , which is an overview of health and social care and an introduction to learning in higher education.

She is also studying KYJ113 Foundations for Social Work Practice – a key introductory level 1 Open University course that develops knowledge of the key roles of social work and introduces the social work standards and codes of practice relevant to each UK nation.