Learner Testimonial - Community Health and Wellbeing Worker Apprenticeship

Addressing Health Inequalities: A Community Health and Wellbeing Worker's Journey with Buttercups Training

Buttercups Training is extremely proud to announce the first successful completion of the Level 3 Community Health and Wellbeing Worker Apprenticeship, Kerry Newall who passed with distinction! This achievement marks a significant milestone for our newly launched programme, designed to equip professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to make a positive impact in the health and wellbeing of their community.

Kerry's Apprenticeship Experience

Kerry's experience highlights her hard work and dedication, along with the strengths of the apprenticeship programme, particularly in terms of tutoring, content, and accessibility. The structured approach provided by the assigned tutor, Kate, ensured a positive learning journey with clear expectations. The programme content was praised for its interesting and practical nature, featuring valuable videos and materials that remain relevant beyond the completion of the programme. The flexibility of online learning and community-based activities was particularly beneficial, allowing for seamless integration with her professional commitments.

Working as a Community Support Worker in a Perinatal Mental Health Service team, Kerry's role encompasses a diverse range of responsibilities, from delivering baby massage and walking groups to providing one-on-one emotional support and assistance with benefits and housing. The programme content has directly contributed to her professional development, especially in areas such as SMART goal setting and behaviour change work.

A notable outcome of the apprenticeship was her increased awareness and action regarding health inequalities. By analysing service data and recognising a significant underrepresentation of ethnic minority communities, Kerry initiated outreach efforts which have led to more diverse referrals and improved access to mental health services in her community.

What is the Community Health and Wellbeing Worker Apprenticeship?

The Level 3 Community Health and Wellbeing Worker apprenticeship equips professionals with the skills to work in partnership with individuals and communities, addressing health needs, improving wellbeing, and reducing inequalities. This programme blends practical experience with theoretical knowledge, supporting apprentices in their roles as:

• Social Prescribing Link Workers
• Community Connectors
• Health and Wellbeing Champions
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Care Coordinators and Care Navigators
• and many other roles where the individual has the opportunity to support the health and wellbeing of individuals in their community.

By embedding personalised care and public health core skills, this apprenticeship aligns perfectly with the growing emphasis on community-based health initiatives.

The success of our first Level 3 Community Health and Wellbeing Worker demonstrates the effectiveness of our apprenticeship in preparing professionals to address real-world challenges in community health. As Buttercups continues to innovate and expand our educational offerings, we are committed to supporting the growth and development of healthcare professionals across the UK.

Hear directly from our Kerry as she shares her experiences in a Q&A session with our development team:

What were the most positive aspects of your experience with this apprenticeship programme?

The programme content itself is really interesting.  There are some great videos and material shared that I will continue to use moving forward in my working role. Having the ability to complete the whole programme online / in my local community was really beneficial to me.

Please explain a little bit about your role within the team to put into context the development you have had over the last year.

The Perinatal Team is a service that supports mums with mental health problems from confirmed pregnancy up until 12 months postnatal.   Our team is made up of a multi-disciplinary team of Nurses, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist, Nursery Nurse, Support Worker, Psychologists, CBT Therapist and Consultant Psychiatrist.  My own role is as a Community Support Worker.   My role is quite diverse in that I deliver Baby Massage, Walking Group, Parenting Group and Freedom Project.  I also support on a 1:1 level doing emotional support, support with benefits / housing and accessing grants.  A large proportion of my time is also spent doing exposure work and supporting mums to access their local community.  We do this via goal setting, so particularly the SMART goals and behaviour change work was really useful.

In networking in my local area (through my allocated programme hours) I was able to keep my knowledge up to date in what services are available across Doncaster to support my patients / signpost effectively.

One particular area that I have been able to develop as a result of the apprenticeship programme is growth in respect of health inequalities.  I began analysing our data figures and recognised that over a 5-year period, 90% of the women that were referred to our service were White / British.  Doncaster is a multi-cultural city, so it became really obvious that we were underrepresenting many ethnic minority communities.  I began to visit minority organisations such as faith groups, migrant support, Changing Lives etc. and have built some really valuable collaborative relationships, which have encouraged more referrals.  The data is not yet available for this financial year, but it has become very clear that many many more women from different ethnic backgrounds are now accessing our service.  This has personally felt like a huge achievement.

What are your future plans now that you have completed the Community Health and Wellbeing Worker Apprenticeship?

In terms of the future, I am still awaiting the outcome of the current ‘bid’ for new funding for our service for the next financial year.  I would hope that a new, higher-grade role will become available within this service (which I’m very passionate about), although I’m not entirely sure at the moment if I would prefer to go along a route of a Mental Health Wellbeing Practitioner (a more psychological role) or pursue a Community Engagement Role to continue improving access to health care / inequalities etc.