Access course helped Trina into her dream job of a mental health nurse

Access course helped Trina into her dream job of mental health nurse

She had been suffering for many years with complex post-traumatic stress disorder but after a year of EMDR therapy and at 36 years-old, she felt she could reignite her life.

With encouragement from her therapist and family, she applied for the access course at Coleg Sir Gâr and chose the health pathway as her dream was to work in mental health nursing.

She says that the course was challenging but interesting and taught in an adult and informative way. “Every assignment I passed increased my self-worth,” she said. “I still struggled with my mental health but the college and lecturers were extremely supportive and always there when I needed them. The thought that I could pass this course with one GCSE to my name was beyond my expectations.”

Trina’s talents were finally emerging and flourishing and she gained distinction after distinction until by the end of the course she had earned 84 distinctions. During her studies, she also won awards for Carmarthenshire and Wales as well as the Keith Fletcher Memorial Prize. “For the first time in 36 years, I started to believe in myself and believe I could actually go to university,” she said.

She has now been working for seven years in her very dream job as a fully qualified mental health nurse on an older adult mental health assessment ward at Prince Philip Hospital, which she began when she left university at 40 years-old. 

Trina added: “I would never have achieved any of this if I hadn’t gathered the courage to apply for and complete the access course; a course that gave me the opportunity to grow and learn as an adult and develop skills and knowledge I never imagined possible.

“I thought university was something completely out of reach but the access course made the goal an achievable one, which fulfilled my ambition to work in a career I very much aspired to.”