In our Nursing Voices series, we will be chatting to nursing colleagues from across Elysium about their unique journey into, and through, nursing, what it means to be a nurse, how their role has evolved over time and much, much more. We spoke with Nkoyo Shadracks, about how she has combined her nursing ambitions with parenthood.
Why did you want to become a nurse?
I have always had a passion about caring and listening to
people and do as much as possible to try to help them, even from a young age. It was a real passion for me. Also, I come from an African background and there was a real push from parents to have an excellent career and healthcare was what appealed to me.
I started working in health and social care and then I went ahead to do my nursing qualification at Salford University. When I first started I was also trying to raise a family at the same time – I had two children while I was studying and had to take some breaks so it took a bit longer. But I returned back to study in 2006 and went on to 2008 to graduate, and I was pregnant again. I was pregnant when I started the journey, and I was pregnant at the end of it too! I took up a role when I graduated and was by then a mum of three. My children have grown up along with my career.
How has your role changed over the years?
I started working within a medium secure service which changed in 2014 to become a locked rehabilitation service. It is now a high dependency rehabilitation service, Braeburn House in Manchester. So although the service has changed, I have been here since I started my nursing career.
I am an RMN and I have always been passionate about supporting people in terms of dealing with emotional related needs. You can do your job better if you’re passionate about it and I wanted to go into a field that I was passionate about.
Changing from medium secure to rehabilitation was a massive difference. It did take a lot of change in mindset, routines and ways of doing things. The change was a transformation really but it was an exciting journey to be on.
I started here as Staff Nurse and worked my way up. One of the beauties of being in this field is there are a lot of opportunities for growth. I became Deputy Ward Manager and have now been working as Ward Manager for about eight years.
What is it like working where you do?
I like working in my role and the place where I am. I have a great support from my manager and my team and we all work well together. A workplace is almost like family. We can accommodate each other and I feel I make an active contribution to the team.
Raising a family and having a challenging career in a management role can be overwhelming, but it is rewarding. it’s important that I look after myself too, or I can’t give my best to others.
Now the children are growing up, going off to university and in senior school, I have a little more scope to do more and for my career to continue progressing.
What about outside of work?
As well as my work, I also run a charity organisation which is involved in mental health. It’s a support group for women called Bold Step. During the pandemic we set up online sessions to bring the women together. People were really anxious and just having a place to talk was important. We created and delivered food parcels and deliveries for families who were ill. I still do charity work on a Friday and we are still delivering food parcels now.
I work with MIND as well. I’ve not limited my support to those within the building. I have taken that out to the community and continued to support people. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I wasn’t in this job, I wouldn’t have been able to effectively do that. Nursing has given me a lot of skills to be able to relate and listen and talk to people and allow them to have the chance to talk without being interrupted. Those are skills I learned as a nurse.
What next?
I’m completing Coaching Professionals Level 5, that is my current project at the moment. In the field we are in, organisation, the style of leadership is changing and coaching is helpful in a stressful environment. It helps us be able to understand my colleagues and be the best support I can be as a manager.