“I first joined BCHA in September of 2021, which feels like just yesterday! I started my career as a Support Worker at Millennium House, one of BCHA’s supported housing schemes with a focus on mental health. I then had the opportunity to progress and step into a Senior Practitioner role at the University Retreat, a bespoke mental health space for students at Bournemouth University. In September of 2024, I transitioned into my current role at Access Wellbeing. I’ve loved every moment of my journey so far.
“With these different roles I have had the pleasure of working with several wonderful teams during my time with BCHA. The work can be really challenging and yet my colleagues always have - and continue to - humble and inspire me with their kind, compassionate and committed approach to supporting others. As a people person, it’s incredibly gratifying to work together with colleagues that have a common goal to create something purposeful.”
Working for BCHA has given me a strong sense of purpose and the opportunity to meet talented, likeminded people that I can connect with and learn from every day.
“The customer voice is so integral to the way we design and deliver our support, and receiving feedback is a key part of our success. I’m often moved to read the feedback from customers who have been supported by the team with such warmth and care in their times of need. We work alongside fantastic organisations, such as Dorset Mental Health Forum, to ensure that the voices of people with lived experience are front and centre of our decision making and I’ve learned that the power of truly listening to our customers should never be underestimated.
“Access Wellbeing is a fairly new service and offers non-clinical mental health and wellbeing support to people aged 18 years and above. Our team has worked incredibly hard over the past 13 months to establish a service from scratch whilst providing a customer experience to be proud of. In my role I am constantly exploring how to evolve and optimise the service that we deliver, with the resources that we have, to meet our wider service objectives.
“Access Wellbeing is an important part of a system wide transformation of community mental health services and BCHA plays a key role in what I believe is an innovative partnership, working with the NHS and other voluntary and community sector organisations."
Our team has worked incredibly hard over the past 13 months to establish a service from scratch whilst providing a customer experience to be proud of.
“Alongside my work with Access Wellbeing and BCHA, I am fortunate enough to be a part of a project called Peer Open Dialogue Dorset (PODD). PODD is an exciting approach to mental health support and as a PODD practitioner I meet and work with people experiencing mental health distress - keeping my finger on the pulse with the realities of the mental health crisis's our customers can face.
“To me, BCHA’s values are a way of being and not a code of professional conduct. I like to think that the values of being person centred, passionate, purposeful and inclusivity run through me – not just something I follow. Working for BCHA has given me a strong sense of purpose and the opportunity to meet talented, likeminded people that I can connect with and learn from every day.
“The future transformation of community mental health services excites me – our new model of support emphasises the importance of viewing a human being, and the potential causes of mental health and wellbeing difficulties, more holistically. This means helping people identify and address issues that can impact mental health such as housing, finances, education and community. This feels like a positive step forward and it’s exciting to be a part of that change.”
Feeling inspired and want to take a look at our current vacancies? Click the button below to visit our recruitment page and see how you can work for us here at BCHA.
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