On the 3rd of March 2018, will mark 15 years of
working in learning disability services…
Where did it all begin….
Strangely it all started in rugby club bar of all places
back in 2001…I have a passion for playing rugby, it was after a hard training
session on a wet and cold evening in November that a fellow team mate and
little did I know at the time an RNLD got talking in the bar after the training
session putting the world to rights over a cold beverage, the subject turned to
work and the nurse began to tell me about his day and what he had been doing as
part of his job, I thought that sounds very interesting and quite exciting. At
the time, I was pounding the streets in the leafy suburbs as a postman.
Over the coming and intervening months, I talked more and more
with the nurse asking more questions and getting more and more interested in
his work and I thought to myself could I do this work?
Now in 2002 after changing jobs, this time working in a
warehouse for a well-known supermarket on permanent nights and going through a
relationship breakup, I began to question lots of things in my life especially
my choice of job, I wanted to have a career not just a job that I was not
satisfied with. I was limited as I did
not perform that well at school and did not have the opportunity to go to
university and have a career.
I plucked up the courage to ask the RNLD “how can I work
with people with learning disabilities?”, he suggested I try and work as a
support worker. I trawled the local papers for job opportunities and eventually
I spotted an advert in the local press asking for support workers for adults
with learning disabilities and behaviours that can challenge services in a NHS
community home. I took the plunge into the unknown; I applied, interviewed two
weeks later and offered the job and I started on the 3rd March 2003.
Although it was a plunge into the unknown immediately when I started working
with people with learning disabilities I knew this was the job for me and it
felt so right.
The NHS supported me as a support worker to progress and
gain qualifications including the Learning Disability Award Framework and my
NVQ 3. I had a supportive manager who encouraged me to apply for a secondment
to begin my nurse training which I started in 2005. I valued my time as a
support worker, during this time I learned the core and essential values of
supporting individuals with learning disabilities. I also had the bonus of
meeting my soul mate who latterly became my wife, she is also a fellow RNLD.
During my nurse training, I had the privilege to meet some
inspirational lecturers who stretched us academically, professionally and
personally to strive and aim to achieve high standards, they also taught us the
importance of being resilient and having the determination to never settle for
second best and to never give up no matter how difficult or challenging a
situation is. I will never forget that the other students in our cohort from
the other branches of nursing would always tell us, there is no jobs in
learning disabilities, there is no future in learning disability nursing,
learning disability nurses are not real nurses. Our Learning disability cohort
was small but all the challenges we faced brought us closer together and made
us have a sense of determination to overcome challenges, a quality I still use
to this day. I have never forgotten my university days and I had the
opportunity to meet some lifelong friends, some inspirational mentors that
latterly have become colleagues and friends.
Since qualifying as a RNLD in 2008 I have worked with both
children and adults with a learning disability in a variety of settings
including forensics, community learning disability teams, safeguarding and
acute care services. I been fortunate to return to university to continue
further studies in gaining a BSc in Mental health work and now studying for a
Masters in advance nursing practice. I have had opportunity to lecture at
university to student nurses and the honour to mentor some very talented
students that I have enjoyed watching their own careers develop and progress in
the profession and worked alongside them as colleagues.
I have had the pleasure to work with and support many people
with a learning disability that have inspired me with their determination and
resilience to face and overcome many challenges that a lot of us could never
imagine facing in life.
Learning disability nursing has given me the opportunity to
develop professionally and personally and the privilege to meet many great people
and to develop lifelong friendships on my journey so far, I would recommend
this rewarding career to anyone in a heartbeat and my advice to anyone looking
to become an RNLD, is to just go for it, you will not regret it. Here is to
many more years of inspirational learning disability nursing practice to come.
Lee Walker, RNLD
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