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Mature study and retraining

Talk to other Mumsnetters who are considering a career change or are mature students.

Looking for inspiration

2 replies

Jeffsmeffsmiff · 02/01/2024 08:55

I currently work in finance. I'm so sick of working just with numbers and spreadsheets. I want to work with people. Unfortunately I'm 45 and only have GCSEs so I'll need to restrain, probably. That's fine but I don't want to commit to retraining, and try and enter the workforce at 50 or so unless I'm sure of direction. So I'm looking for inspiration, please. I really would love to do mental health nursing but with young kids and a husband that works long hours I don't see how I could do the long shifts really (although nights would probably be ok!)
The other difficulty is I have 9 year old twins and not much support. The only thing that's kept me in my job this long is they're flexible. I currently WFH 4 days a week from 9-3 and 1 day in the office. So I still manage school runs, they also let me fully WFH in the school holidays and I tend to start at 7am then so that I can finish at 1 and entertain the kids in the afternoon. I could utilise breakfast/ after school clubs but Ideally not everyday.

OP posts:
QuaterMiss · 02/02/2024 12:12

Have you found any of the threads here of any help, @Jeffsmeffsmiff?

IReadTheWholeThread · 16/02/2024 05:26

Could you start off doing a little bit of 'bank' (casual) care work? You could work with people who have mental health issues. Carers are in constant demand and it means you'll be able to find jobs that offer you free training. Might be more of the NVQ on-the-job qualifications rather than academic.

Another thing to consider is a relevant access course - they're available to study online and you may be able to get funding. Maybe something like this: https://adult.activatelearning.ac.uk/find-a-course/detail/access-to-allied-health-professions-online-level-3-diploma-2/

I just googled 'funded online access course to mental health england' without the inverted commas... I presume you're in England? (I'm in Scotland).

Best of luck!

Access to Allied Health Professions: Online Level 3 Diploma - Activate Learning - Adult Education

https://adult.activatelearning.ac.uk/find-a-course/detail/access-to-allied-health-professions-online-level-3-diploma-2

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