I provide one-to-one support for young people with a range of disabilities, facilitating engagement in fun activities, whilst also supporting feeding and personal care. This ranges from arts and crafts activities and baking to days out to a local park or the National Marine Aquarium. Communication and people skills are vital in this role. Many of the young people have limited or no verbal communication, so I need to use a variety of communication techniques to develop trust and build relationships with the young people, and to facilitate productive team-working with my colleagues.

I assist in the development and running of monthly Family Pride days for LGBT+ families. These provide a safe space for LGBT+ families to connect with each other, over arts and crafts and games at the Intercom Office, or out in the community rockpooling or at Pride events, for example. I assist with the setting up of each event, and then am available for any family members to discuss any positives or concerns with me. Safeguarding is a really important part of this role, and I am confident in raising concerns to relevant staff members, where needed, whilst maintaining the trust of clients.

Project Title: Shifting Seas - a gene landscape approach to understanding saltmarsh resilience to sea-level rise, in collaboration with UKCEH and DEFRAThis role required me to have a good understanding of estuarine ecology, and to be aware of current and previous saltmarsh research to identify previous investigations and current research gaps on which to develop my project hypotheses. Project planning included budgetary and equipment considerations, health and safety and risk assessments (especially when working in intertidal environments) and liaising with many other stakeholders to attain site access permissions and requirements. To keep within the tight budget of this project, I prioritised certain study sites and experiments, and designed methodologies to utilise equipment already available through the University of Plymouth. Fieldwork included Trimble Differential-GPS site elevation mapping, saltmarsh plant ID, mapping and sampling in challenging intertidal environments. The experimental aspects of the project included Instant Ocean® plant flooding experiments and plant DNA extraction for sequencing. I used QGIS to map my study sites, including the location of the saltmarsh, LiDAR data and plant sampling locations. This transdisciplinary project, integrated ecology, genetics and geomorphology expertise to achieve policy-relevant outcomes, and required good organisation, attention to detail and documentation. During my time at the University of Plymouth, I als assisted in boat-based water sampling and quality monitoring in the Yealm Estuary and juvenile fish sampling in the Tamar Estuary.

The GVI project at Kyparissia Bay, Greece monitored and protected nesting loggerhead sea turtles, in collaboration with project partner Achelon. My duties included leading over- and under-18 volunteers on demanding daily beach surveys to record sea turtle nesting activity, protect and/or relocate any nests, monitor hatchling activity and complete nest excavations to record hatching success. We also completed other surveys, documenting light pollution and predator activity. I trained and managed our volunteers, by creating and updating presentations, including a guide to base life and turtle ecology and by leading educational and fun activities. I assisted with project management and ensuring the wellbeing of our volunteers and the smooth running of camp, by creating our weekly rota of surveys and fun activities, completing weekly shops for food and medical supplies within budget and performing Health and Safety Risk Assessments of all activities. Effective teamwork was vital to establish the smooth running of camp, with colleagues and volunteers from different countries and a range of backgrounds and experiences.

I was responsible for inputting new carer applicants’ details, including medical information and checking their official documentation, for example driving license and right to work checks. I aided carer applicants with their DBS applications and requested and checked references. Another part of my role was running weekly reports to check for upcoming Visa and DBS renewals, and contacting and supporting our current carers, where needed, to complete their applications.

I provided one-to-one support for young people with a range of disabilities, facilitating our young people’s engagement in fun activities, whilst also supporting their feeding and personal care. Please see above for more details.

After a 6-month temporary placement, through Recruitment Solutions, I was employed as a Sales Administrator with the Mercedes-Benz Division of Lookers Plc. I worked across the New and Used Car Administration Teams, inputting customer and car details onto the internal system. I then created the invoices and other documentation for our customers. I also calculated and updated pricing on the online system, for the vehicles advertised on the website.

I was recruited for a variety of temporary receptionist and front of house positions at various car dealerships. I was responsible for greeting customers, receiving phone calls, ensuring Sale Executives were aware of their appointments, and guaranteeing a clean and presentable showroom experience for visiting customers.

I was placed with Lookers Plc, to update their customer contact preferences, to comply with the new GDPR laws. I also assisted with some New and Used Car Sales Administration, when the teams were particularly busy.

My time in Ghana, both inside and outside of A Rocha afforded me many wonderful experiences. I was trained in proposal writing and have written several proposals for different funding organisations, including a successful application to the French Embassy’s French Solidarity Programme, which awarded €30,000. I was part of different community outreach projects, giving presentations and leading activities with stakeholders including traditional chiefs and school students. For example, at a school local to Lake Bosomtwe, I helped deliver a presentation and fun activities to educate the students on biodiversity and the interconnectivity of their local wildlife. For World Wildlife Day 2019, I participated in a beach cleanup and community education. I also participated in fieldwork, including a tree survey at Lake Bosomtwe Forest Reserve, whilst camping in a remote Ghanaian community, a reptile survey at Sui River Forest Reserve with Save the Frogs, Ghana and assisted with a PhD project investigating termites.

I was responsible for helping customers with website orders, by phone and email, and sending out product samples. My role developed to processing orders for customers requiring bespoke products, which required me to communicate specific and technical product information to both customers and suppliers and to use Priory’s bespoke SAP Business One ICT system.