Julie is an amazing nurse who has worked in areas of nursing not often spoke about and would not be typical of what people imagine when considering nursing, prison healthcare.
Here is her story
My journey into nursing was fairly traditional. My father was a general nurse, trained in the RAF, although I recall being told my primary school classmates that he must be a doctor because he was a man.
I wasn’t entirely sure it was for me and had considered tourism but having volunteered on an orthopaedic ward for 2 years I had the experience that stood me in good stead at my university interview, securing a place at Birmingham.
Whilst studying I worked as an agency healthcare assistant and recall meeting an elderly patient on an oncology ward. He was clearly quite lonely and I talked with him about his family in Australia and saw pictures of his granddaughter. He told me I was the first person that had spent time with him and I knew then that I wanted to be able to help people emotionally and physically.
My first mental health placement was in a medium secure unit and I absolutely loved it, even being slightly disappointed when I had a day off! So I picked the mental health branch and never looked back. It led me from medium and high security into an extended time in prison health which brought together in my role physical and mental health as well as substance misuse.
Now I’m back in mental health and am leading on the physical health of our mental health patients.
It’s demonstrated to me the need to refocus on holistic care where my journey in nursing began.