Libby Taylor-Griffiths

I was inspired to study this degree through personal experiences negatively affecting my own mental health and wanting to learn more about mental health and it’s impacts on children and young people.

I loved being able to experience working with children and young people through my placements in years 2 and 3. I was lucky enough to be in a local primary school doing one-to-one low intensity therapy sessions in second year and began my volunteering for Shout UK the text crisis line in year 3. This helped me to deepen my professional attributes and skills needed for working with vulnerable children and young people.

Edge Hill also provided opportunities for gaining training qualifications fully funded, such as Youth Mental Health First Aid by MHFA England, which I completed in my second year.

During my degree I have gained empathetic listening skills, better time management skills and more effective communication skills, which all benefit me whilst volunteering and working with children who have poor mental health or are neurodiverse. I am able to interact with each individual child to suit their needs and stick to boundaries in sessions. Alongside balancing my work and my own personal life to detach from work and manage my time effectively.

If you are considering studying this course, then I would make sure that you are comfortable with listening about different ill mental health conditions, the signs and symptoms and hearing about true life case studies. If you have had any personal experiences, please don’t be afraid to contact your personal tutor and confide in them as they can really help you.

I worked as a student helper for the University and helped on the welcome weekend helping new students move in, as well as helping on various open days in my second and third year talking to potential new students wanting to study the course. Student helper roles are available to second and third years only, and you can find out when they’re hiring at the beginning of the year either on your emails or on the Edge Hill Instagram page.

The best thing about Edge Hill, is the campus itself. I loved walking round the campus and sitting near the lake and beach on sunny days to take a break from the catalyst, where I’d do my work and take lots of snacks with me! I also lived in student accommodation in my first year and made lots of friends with people on my course as well as people I lived with and even people I’d meet out at the Student Union.

My highlights as a student were making lifelong friendships and also becoming more educated on a subject I’m so passionate about and want to have a career in.