FEATURE How do you imagine an apprentice? A school leaver with work boots on a building site? Someone making tea in an office?
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tephanie Kynaston begs to differ. She’s 43 and has just begun her social worker apprenticeship with Mersey Care’s Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion team. Her manager Sadie Canning-Dossor is also homespun and proud. She’s building an entire team on apprenticeships. The team provides early support for vulnerable people who come to the attention of the criminal justice system and are co-located in police custody suites, courts, prisons and communities. Their role is to divert people away from offending and into health, social and other support services.
People join us because they really want to work with that service user group. “We’re a distinctive service” says Sadie. People join us because they really want to work with that service user group. It’s more than a job, it’s enabling people to reach their potential and creates a sense of recovery and value. I experienced that from my own managers. They were always thinking about development of the service and an individual’s skills and succession planning.” She’s candid about her motives for supporting others development. “I’m not fully altruistic, our staff are skilled and dedicated, and I know if you’re not developing you may stagnate. I want my colleagues to develop and progress here in this team and not elsewhere! Lesley Cradduck leads Mersey Care’s dynamic apprenticeship programme. She says there are apprenticeships right up to master’s level. “Our apprentices range from administrative staff, to nurses and senior managers.
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With the support of your manager you can plot your career path from the beginning and upskill while you’re working. It’s fully funded and flexible. There are so many pathways and it’s good for employers, they’re getting really well trained staff in the areas where they're needed. Apprenticeships should help to increase diversity. We’re able to grow people we’ve invested in." Steph Kynaston is a trailblazer. As one of two social worker apprentices, the former housing officer divides her week between leading an outreach resettlement programme for people coming out of prison and studying for a degree in social work at University of Central Lancashire. She’d already completed a Level 3 senior healthcare worker apprenticeship with Mersey Care, which allowed her to apply for the degree level apprenticeship. “I’m interested in how trauma in someone’s life can lead to their committing crime, and how we can divert people so their life changes and we prevent them going back to prison," she says.
I’ve been given something really special. “My niche was always mental health, I just didn’t realise it. My mum was my core. She died of ovarian cancer in 2015 and as I was caring for her she said ‘you should have been a nurse you know’. That was my catalyst.” Steph’s journey has not been without its challenges. “I wondered if I was capable of studying at this level. The course has been mostly online because of the pandemic, and I’ve had COVID-19. But the team and my family are behind me. “The support from Mersey Care has been incredible. They’ve seen something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I know I’ve been given something really special.”
