Lizzie - Youth Development Worker

9am Start the day
Arrive in the office and read some emails, including one from a colleague with pictures of the young people we took to Glastonbury Festival in June. We try to give them positive experiences like this, where they can have fun with others who are going through the same thing.

9:45am Discussing needs
I meet a patient at the oncology centre and discuss my visit to her school next week to talk to her friends in the Sixth Form. I ask what she wants me to cover (or avoid!) with them. There are also some questions about her prescriptions so I call our Teenager and Young Adult specialist nurse and ask her to sort them out.

10:30am Catching up
I meet another patient, who has recently finished treatment, in a coffee shop near her home. Although she is doing well medically she is bored with being at home all day and fed up with having to rely on people to help her out when she is tired. We chat about ways of dealing with this.

She is also concerned that her employer won’t be able to find her a role when she is ready to return to work, as she won’t be ready to perform her normal role for another six months or so. I arrange to see her again in a fortnight to help support her through this stage. For many patients the end of treatment is a really tough time, so it’s great that I can continue supporting them while they adjust to being well again.

12:30pm Lunch
Back in the office, I grab a quick lunch and catch up with my colleagues to see which in-patients they’ve seen and who I should see this afternoon. We do manage a quick chat about our social lives as well!

1pm Playing on the Wii
I take some DVDs and Wii games to a recently diagnosed young woman who’s being treated on an adult ward. She’s pleased with the new games because they’re a bit more active than the other games she’s got. We play with the Wii and chat. She was upset last week when she was moved into a room with much older women. They’re in their 60s, even older than her mum – well, in fact they’re even older than my mum - which makes them ancient in her eyes.

She is now coping better but is disappointed that she can’t return to uni this week. We discuss ways she could keep in touch with her university friends and her frustration at being dependent on her parents again.

2:30pm Improving the experience
I attend the adolescent forum, a multi-disciplinary staff group on the children’s oncology ward that aims to improve the experience of adolescent patients. We discuss a new project to provide information about sexual health to older teenagers on chemotherapy, and how to educate ward and community staff who care for them. We also discuss an upcoming information booklet about the ward and treatment which has been produced by and for teenage patients. Most of the existing information about the ward is aimed at parents.

3:30pm Building relationships
I stay on the ward to chat with some of the teenage patients. It helps to build our relationship. Even if we’re just chatting about Bargain Hunt or Jeremy Kyle (they watch a lot of daytime tv, as there’s little else to do) it creates opportunities for them to talk about their concerns or worries.

4:30pm Arranging an activity
Back in the office I write up my notes and type a flyer about our next evening event; every six weeks I arrange a meal out or an activity like bowling. The region our team covers is quite big and young people are treated at several different hospitals. These ‘peer support’ events let them meet each other and feel less isolated, and help me to get to know them better, too.

Time to go home! I’ve had a varied day, and I’m happy that I’ve been able to respond to the individual needs and situations of all the young people I’ve seen. Now it’s time to switch off with a good long swim!