I have now been working at the Fragile X Society for 2 months and have been made very welcome. My mentor Wendy was absolutely brilliant in sharing her expertise and knowledge before she retired at Christmas and my other colleagues have been very supportive too as I start to ‘learn the ropes’.
Just so you know a little about me; I have worked in the voluntary sector now for over 25 years supporting families. During this time, I furthered my studies with the Open University part time and the modules I covered included cognitive development, language and linguistics and special needs education. I worked for nearly 10 years with a local charity in West Essex as their Parenting Coordinator to support families and their children with additional needs. My work involved giving support and advice over the phone as well as making home visits and running support groups. I also spent time at the charity’s youth groups, holiday schemes and Saturday club. During this time a lot of my work focused on autism and I had the opportunity to study further to enable me to facilitate parenting programmes and devise workshops to meet the expressed needs of these parents. I covered issues such as sensory (my favourite!), behaviour, emotional issues and communication. I love creating visual schedules and social stories too and I trust that the knowledge I gained from this time will help me in my new role.
On being made redundant from this role due to funding issues I have worked for a few organisations but felt a little in the ‘wilderness’ as I was not regularly using my knowledge base. Then, after feeling a little disillusioned in my job at the time, a wonderful opportunity arose... I searched a website and found the job vacancy advertised for the Fragile X Society, a national charity that was close to home. I felt the job found me as it was the only vacancy I applied for, and here I am and really enjoying the role. Although I have in the past supported families whose children have Fragile X; I really appreciate that I won’t stop learning from my colleagues and yourselves.
I look forward to the opportunity of linking with you via the phone or email in the not too distant future, and also meeting some of you face to face at future events.
You can contact Caroline with any questions about children with Fragile X on caroline@fragilex.org.uk or 01371875100.
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