Amy never imagined her skills as an artist could lead to a career in the NHS after her degree in Fine Arts left her unsure of her next steps. 
Thanks to the ‘Volunteer to Career’ programme, she now supports dementia and Parkinson’s patients at Bowmere Hospital at Cheshire and Wirral NHS Partnership Trust (CWP) while studying for a Master’s in Art Therapy.
The initiative, piloted by national charity Helpforce, is designed to harness the power of volunteering in tackling persistent recruitment issues across health services.
It gives people who are interested in healthcare careers but don’t have a background in the field a chance to gain valuable experience and build confidence before applying for paid roles or training.
CWP have taken part in Volunteer to Career – enabling individuals from all walks of life to secure permanent jobs including healthcare assistants, mental health support workers and assistant physiotherapists.
Alongside 25-year-old Amy, those who’ve moved into the sector include former members of the armed forces community, refugees, over 50s, and single parents.
Amy said: If it wasn’t for Volunteer to Career, it would have been much harder to find relevant work to support my MA in Art Therapy.
Amy graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Kingston University, London, in 2020 with no real idea what she wanted to do next. A tutor suggested her style was ‘Outsider Art’ - a term for unconventional art often produced by psychiatric and mental health patients.
I researched it and realised that my artistic skills could help other people. It could help them express things they couldn’t express any other way. That’s when I became interested in Art Therapy as a career, said Amy.
Having moved in with family in Chester when Covid 19 hit the UK, Amy applied for a Masters degree in Art Therapy at the University of Chester but didn’t get a place due to lack of practical experience.
That’s when she heard about the Volunteer to Career (VtC) programme that had just launched at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Amy became one of the Trust’s first volunteers as part of a VtC pilot at Bowmere Hospital, working as a Therapeutic Activity Volunteer on the psychiatric ward, helping to deliver art sessions for people in recovery.
Six months later, a paid position came up and Amy landed a job as Occupational Therapy Technical Instructor. Her relevant voluntary experience had also gained her a place at Chester University to study Art Therapy.
Now aged 25 and living with her partner in Shropshire, Amy balances studying for her Masters with her job at Bowmere Hospital. Her current role is on the Acute ward, working with patients suffering from dementia and Parkinsons. Last year she came up with a new initiative that saw patients working with clay, paint, abstract figure drawing and lino printing to host their very own exhibition in the hospital.
She said: I feel that the Volunteer to Career scheme has enabled me to find my element and I am thriving in it. For me, art is a language through which you can express your feelings, even if you’re not conscious of the feelings you want to express. It is a privilege to enable other people to benefit from art.
Suzanne Edwards, director of operations, at CWP, said: Amy’s story illustrates the incredible value of opening up healthcare career opportunities to people with no prior experience in the field. Since joining our Trust Amy has been a true asset to the team at Bowmere Hospital, taking part in, and introducing, innovative initiatives that have been of tremendous value to our patients. We are delighted to have partnered with Helpforce on an initiative which enables individuals like Amy to pursue a career in healthcare via volunteering.
Find out more about volunteering at CWP by visiting: Volunteering with us :: Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
