Lisa, second year student learning disability nurse at UCLan in Preston
I chose learning disability nursing due to having previous experience within that sector as a teaching assistant and as a healthcare support worker.
I started my nursing journey as a Trainee Nursing Associate in a large acute NHS Trust but transferred courses, as through that course I realised that my heart lay with learning disability nursing.
I’m finding the course good at the moment, spending lots of time at university and getting the knowledge you need to go out on placement. When I go out into placement I can put my skills and knowledge into practice while I’m there.
Placements I’ve been on to date include community learning disability nursing teams, a medium secure unit and my next placement, which I’m looking forward to is going to be in a children’s hospice.
Advice I would give would be to go for it! Maybe get some experience first as a support worker with people with different needs and then look into all the universities that offer the course to see what is right for you.