Craig Kennett - Video Profile
Transcript
I started initially as a volunteer for the Samaritans and that lasted about 18 months. I've done a lot of travelling as well. I've been involved with a lot of other cultures and I just found it really interesting trying to help somebody out with my own natural skills and then started up a homeless hostel in Aldershot. The support I've received, particularly from management, in my own personal experience, has been absolutely fantastic. Great supervision, everybody's there to actually help and to talk about any issues you might have with any cases but in particular management are always there to advise and support. They make you feel confident in your own job. The training is absolutely fantastic. There are plenty of opportunities: there's training in adults; training with children from basic self-harm and substance misuse; communication skills; and, as I say, the learning development that I've received over the years here for me personally is one of the major reasons that I've stayed in West Sussex - because it's all about what I can do and how I can help out young people I work with with. And now I'm just about to start my second year of a Bachelor of Arts & Social Work at university which is sponsored by West Sussex. The perception that West Sussex is gentile, as far as social work is concerned is completely wrong - that is not the case. Ambition-wise there is movement up the ladder. I can say, for myself, that I came into this job with no qualifications at all, just personal experience and I'm at university at the moment, in the second year and I will be a fully qualified social worker with a degree which is something that I never thought I would ever achieve when I left school.
