This week we’re celebrating all things apprenticeships across our website and social media platforms. We’ll be hearing from our fantastic apprentices who are training in all sorts of fields – from nursing and care workers to construction and team leaders, as well as the employers that are working with them and our own staff who support both sides by creating bespoke programmes of training.

Kennedy Bowman is a Senior Nurse and is one of the apprentices training within University College of Birmingham’s Centre of Apprenticeships. She started her third apprenticeship with us, her Level 3 Team Leader/Supervisor, after previously completing apprenticeships for Nursing Associate and her degree top-up to become a Registered Nurse working in mental health – two roles with different responsibilities and registration requirements.

Her passion for working in healthcare began after being inspired by a community nurse that came to her house to visit her father, who was unwell. “I just used to sit with her all the time, and she just made it really welcoming. It then kind of stopped being really sad and we made it more of a nice memory. From then, I've always wanted to do some sort of nursing or healthcare -  I just wasn't sure which one I preferred to do, but I think mental health is just as important as physical health and it's just what I was more interested in when I looked into it.”

This passion for working in mental health led to Kennedy applying to work at Cygnet, where she initially started in a support worker role. “I’ve never been someone to stand still!” she exclaimed. “Before I'd even been there six months, I was talking to my manager about what the opportunities there are to progress.” Kennedy’s manager recommended her for a nurse associate role, and supported her through the application.