Things have been pretty quiet since August 2023.
I haven’t been working too much on my MTA or updating this blog because I’ve been more focused on a new job I started in October.
I’m now working part-time as Night Housing Support Worker for 1625, a charity that provides housing and support to young homeless people in the 16-25 age range.
I’m based at one of their hostels here in Bristol and I work there two nights a week keeping an eye on the hostel through the night, dealing with any problems that arise and providing support to the residents.
I was first drawn to the role when I mentioned to someone who already works there that I was looking for a part-time night job.
I already have an agency night job that I work but it is on a zero-hour contract so not only am I not guaranteed work, but I am never even sure if I am going to be bring in enough money to cover my expenses from one month to the next.
But if I had a permanent part night job to work alongside my flexible night job then I would always have enough money coming in each month to cover my expenses.
So when I became aware of the permanent part time role at 1625 it immediately captured my attention.
I spent a good chunk of August researching the role and the company.
I had to figure out what the role entailed because I’ve never worked din high support services before.
Then I had to decide if I was the right person for the role.
Working in high support, especially with young people who are only just starting out in life and some of who have quite complex psychological challenges, demands someone who can really bring their best self to the role.
The wrong person in that wrong could ultimately end up causing serious harm to the young people within 1625’s care.
But I figured that between my prior experience as a life coach and manager; as well as my own lived experience of homelessness and family problems, I was a pretty good fit for the role.
So then I spent about a week putting together a really strong application form and then I was invited in for an absolutely terrifying interview towards the end of August.
But my interview went very well and I was offered the role a few days later.
However, I didn’t get to start the role until the beginning of August because I had to wait for my DBS check to go through and it took a fair while!
I eventually started the role at the beginning of October.
I spent my first three months in the role getting acquainted with the position and the company.
However, I haven’t just been working my nightshifts there, I have also had to attend a lot of training seminars in the daytime during those first three months!
An exhausting amount of training if I am honest.
Exhausting because I keep having to flip my sleeping pattern from nights to days and then back to nights.
But also exhausting because about 95% of what I am being taught I have already covered in the studying I did for my Leadership and Management concentration, and the repetitiveness has been wearing me down a bit.
However, now that I am in the new year, not only has all my initial training has been done, but I now also feel much confident and comfortable in my role as a support worker.
So now I can jump back into devoting more of my time and attention to getting this MTA done.
A key part of completing my MTA will probably be my participation within 1625.
One of the reasons I became very excited about applying to join the organisation is because I realised not only would I be a good fit for the role but it would be a really good fit for my MTA.
Both from what I had already studied as part of my MTA, but also as a potential final project or final project component as part of it.
I could potentially utilise some aspect of my time at 1625 to fulfil my Global Citizenship final project, a big component of the Global Citizenship concentration is social justice which is exactly what 1625 is all about.
Although, I don’t have any definite ideas yet.
A key part of this thinking is how I can progress within 1625 beyond my current night worker role.
When I was researching the company, before I applied for my current role, one of things that excited me about the prospect of joining 1625 is the company’s scope and all the different areas of support it provides beyond just temporary housing.
Furthermore, I never intended to stick with my night role even when I did apply for it, both my night jobs are just placeholder roles while I finish up my MTA.
One of the reasons I have built such a comprehensive master’s degree is so that I can get a reall good job from it.
A job that utilizes my talents which is not something that can not really be said for my current night job roles.
I also can not wait to come off nights because I have been working nights for nearly 11 years now!
The sooner I get my MTA in a finished state, the sooner I can return to the daylight!
I’m going to hash out some ideas in the next few weeks for other potential roles and areas I could move into at 1625; as well as how those roles could be utilized within my MTA Portfolio.
I have always employed an integrative learning experience as part of my MTA, meaning that whatever things I have going on in my life, such as a job role, I incorporate into the learning process of my MTA.
I did it with my life coaching, which wasn’t originally one of my MTA’s final projects.
Coaching is actually one of the ideas I have for progression in 1625 because they do employ coaches and I would be very well suited for coaching role.
But I need to spend a few weeks mapping out ideas.
Watch this space, I’m sure I’ll have more to say about my time at 1625 as time goes on.