“I knew that this one course could take
me anywhere”
Laura Durkan always knew she was going to be a social worker. At the young age of 12, she had it written in her confirmation book. She may not have known how she was going to get there, or even what the job actually entails, but she knew it was her ultimate goal.
The 29-year old originally from Mayo grew up in a home familiar with social workers. With two aunties and an uncle who were all deaf without speech, social workers played a key role in providing support.
Speaking about her family, Laura said, “I grew up in the countryside, there were no shops or anything near us. My two aunties and my uncle were all deaf without speech. One of my aunties couldn’t even fully sign so she could never fully understand anyone.”
She continued, “The lady who came out was always so nice. At the start, I always wondered who she was and what she was doing in my house, but Mum explained that she was a social worker and came round to help us. I just absolutely loved that they were able to take time out of an office to come and spend time with them”.
Though she knew she always wanted to do something in the field, she didn’t fully understand what the role was. It was from watching the way a social worker helped her family that she realised she wanted to help people.
She said, “I remember my mum having to go into hospital for an operation, she was my aunt’s next of kin and so she was really stressed about leaving her. But the social worker for my auntie was there at home and made sure everything was okay”.
She continued, “All I knew was that this lady’s car pulled up and everyone was happy.”
Although Laura knew she would one day go down the social worker route, once she left school it wasn’t where she actually ended up going. As she grew up in the Republic of Ireland, there was no option to only do specific subjects.
Laura explained, “We all did every subject and we were examined on everything. At the time I thought I was going to be an Irish teacher because I just knew I wanted to work with children and because of the subjects available, but on the morning of my Irish exam I took unwell and I subsequently failed my exam.”
While she was going to go back and repeat her exam, the subject was revised in 2011 which meant that Laura would have had to take on an extra two years of school. Instead, Laura decided to change her route.
She expressed, “I went and did early years education for two years and then I went to Germany and I did a course and I taught English to children over there for two years. Then I came back home and did special needs assistant where I qualified level 5 and level 6.”
Speaking about the special needs assistant role, Laura explained, “As soon as I qualified I worked with a girl who had cerebral palsy, and I used to accompany her to meetings with her mum. It was there when I started seeing where the social worker came into it.”
This is when Laura decided it was time to make a change, after working with children for eight years. It was finally time to get back to her original plan.
“I wasn’t actually able to apply for a social worker role, even though I had four different qualifications. Because I grew up in the South, my qualifications didn’t match up to what was needed here in the North.” She continued, “instead, I applied for this social worker course and got accepted. Now, I’ve just finished my first placement and I’m in the second semester of my second year.”
The second-year student, who is currently in residential, spoke about the main challenges that she has faced, saying, “Finance is probably my biggest challenge. Most people in the course get a student loan, but because I’m from the South and you have to have a five year address here, I don’t.”
Not only does it financially impact Laura, but she believes that when she was first told that her qualifications didn’t match, she almost just completely gave up on it.
Addressing the challenge, she explained, “I couldn’t keep working either, I had waited so long to do the course that I wanted to make sure I gave it my all. But I couldn’t have done it without the incentive scheme”.
She explained, “I got so close to just leaving it. But Peter, my partner, kept telling me to go for the course and to apply because of how often I spoke about it.”
She continued, “I knew that this one course could take me anywhere within social work. There is so much opportunity within the field”.
Speaking about how her personal experience helped her to cope on the course, Laura explained, “It 100% helps. I think if I had seen some of the things at 18 or 19 that I’m seeing now then I would have been a bit put off.”
Explaining the reasoning for this, Laura said, “Through my experience and life, I’m a bit more tough skinned, I know how to deal with it now. It’s tough but it’s rewarding. I get to come home, even after a bad day. But the people I work with don’t. This is their life.”
After Laura qualifies she now knows that there is a world of opportunities. Becoming a social worker isn’t a one path job. Being in the field means that you can work with children or adults in many different areas.
Talking about the best advice that she has for anyone wanting to apply, Laura said, “I think just being aware of what’s going on in the world around you in relation to social work. Preparation is key, so by picking a book up or reading articles, it will help you massively.”
She continued, “Also do research. There’s so much more than just working with children. Find an interest and look into it. There are plenty of roles for everybody. Whether you’re comfortable talking or not, there are positions for everyone. Attend social events or talk to someone who has experience.”
“Be honest in your personal statement. Take all the best things that you have done and let people know. Get into volunteering, because if you enjoy helping people for free, then you’re going to be absolutely fine when you’re helping people as a job”.
If you think a career in the social work field is for you, then go to niscc.info/our-careers to find out more about their career opportunities.