Amy Vicars - Graduate Case Study

Amy Vicars graduated with a Masters in Health Psychology in 2022 and now works for Everton in the Community (EitC) as a Health and Wellbeing Coordinator.

What does your role involve on a day-to-day basis?

I organise, deliver and evaluate the ‘Everton Cares’ and ‘Stand Together’ programmes. Everton Cares is a 12-week programme designed to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of individuals living with a long-term health condition across Liverpool City Region. This includes weekly educational workshops on topics like nutrition, physical activity education, mental health and mindfulness, sleep, and self-care. I work with various local organisations and other health professionals to deliver the programme, including Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, dieticians, two clinical psychology trainees and exercise instructors. I also evaluate the impact of the programme through various health measures (e.g. HbA1c, blood pressure, and BMI), pre and post WEMWEBS scores, and qualitative interviews. Preliminary findings of the first cohort to complete the programme show an average increase of 25% in mental wellbeing, which was really rewarding for me to see.

Stand Together is an older adults social group for people over 65 aimed at reducing social isolation and is one of EitC’s longest running programmes. I organise twice weekly sessions filled with activities like arts/craft, a mobile zoo visit, drumming sessions, swing dancing workshop and comedy improve and personally deliver sessions like chair based dance, kindness workshops, health checks and music bingo. I utilise the programme’s budget to include activities that increase physical activity, improve brain health and education, and improve mental wellbeing.

In addition to these two programmes, I also conduct health screening in the local community to identify those who have a high BMI, high blood pressure or are at risk of type 2 diabetes. Once identified they can be referred to their GP for further support.

Tell us about your experience of applying for jobs. What advice would you give to current students to help with this process?

I actually didn’t have any intentions on applying for my current role, as I wasn’t actively seeking a job at the time. As part of my MSc I was conducting research into the self-management of Type 2 diabetes and needed participants for focus groups. I reached out to Everton in the Community as they had a diabetes support programme to utilise their participants. Unfortunately, the programme had ended due to funding, however, I was informed of a job opening as a coordinator for the new Everton Cares programme and was encouraged to apply. This role wasn’t due to begin until later on in the year which lined up well with me finishing my MSc at the same time.

At first, I was reluctant as I thought I wasn’t experienced enough to design, deliver and evaluate a whole programme! However, the opportunity seemed too good to miss and I applied. When I was offered an interview, I was told I had to design a 12-week health and wellbeing programme for individuals with health conditions and present it to them during the interview. I had never experienced this level of interviewing before and felt nervous but excited as I had knowledge of behaviour change interventions from my MSc and we had a module on long-term conditions. I reached out to my research supervisor and asked for advice, which was really helpful.

My advice to other students looking for a job after university is to have the confidence to apply in the first place. When I first saw the job specification and description, I instantly felt overwhelmed and I didn’t meet all of the criteria on the specification. In my application, I focused on how I could develop in that role and used my previous experience to evidence the transferable skills required. For example, I have previously worked in care and used this to demonstrate my experience of engaging with those living with health conditions. Also, I had no direct experience of designing an intervention as part of any role, so I demonstrated I had the knowledge to do this, as I had learnt this in university. Overall, employers are happy to hire graduates: we show a lot of drive, willingness to succeed and have a bunch of fresh ideas! So don’t be scared, apply for that job!

What help and support did you have from the Student Futures Team while you studied at LJMU?

I booked a meeting with a careers and employability adviser to practise my presentation and get feedback from them in preparation for the interview. I found this the most helpful thing I did as I had practised it multiple times at home to my partner but not to strangers in a formal setting, so this gave me the most useful experience.  The careers adviser then asked me some likely interview questions based on the role description and gave me some amazing feedback. I would definitely recommend to students to utilise the careers support at LJMU: the advisers are so friendly, willing to help and genuinely want to see you succeed.

What tips would you give other students to improve their employability?

I would definitely advise current students to think about their employability during their studies. Having knowledge from your degree is one thing, but the practical skills gained during employment are extremely important. After my undergraduate degree, I travelled around Australia, working in a variety of jobs from hospitality to healthcare. Once I decided to complete my MSc in Health Psychology, I was so glad to have these experiences to write about.

I did not work during my MSc, but my previous role in a specialist residential home for individuals with complex needs was great experience for my current role working with older adults and those with health conditions. Looking back, I think a volunteer role would have been beneficial as just a few hours per week can give you experience in mental health, engagement etc whilst also learning about the charity sector. Even if you find yourself with little experience after your MSc, it is possible to get a role as a support worker in healthcare for six months to gain experience while applying for more roles. Having a job, even if it’s not ideal, is worthwhile as you can hear about internal roles that come up, meet new people and learn new skills.

I had no idea my role even existed before being encouraged to apply. I worried about what job I would get after my MSc, but now I know how many roles there are that would be a great fit for a health psychology graduate. I suggest students consider the third sector and not just NHS roles. Charities regularly gain funding to create programmes based on community needs which then produces new roles like mine! There are many different roles that fulfil the competencies for the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology – I have just been successful in gaining a place on the next cohort with my role.

At LJMU, we have an employability skills and mind-set framework embedded within all our degrees. Which three of the nine employability skills and which three of the seven mind-set traits did you find most important in your day-to-day role, and how did you use them in practice in your job?

Employability skills - Analysis, problem-solving and decision-making; planning and organisation; Teamwork and collaboration

In my role every day offers a new challenge which requires problem-solving and decision-making.

Problem-solving: I have to use an online finance system to raise purchase orders and invoices with external providers, which can get confusing when I have three sessions on a week. Further problem-solving is needed when designing programmes which don’t go as initially planned due to other external providers not being able to deliver sessions on the day planned.

Analysis: After each session of both programmes, I try to reflect on what went well, not well etc. and also gain participant feedback to help develop the programmes further.

Making decisions is a part of autonomous working especially as I am the sole coordinator of both programmes. I have to decide who delivers specialist content, timings, where we deliver, signing participants up to the programme if I feel they are a good fit etc.

I have to plan a month’s worth of activities for the older adults group I coordinate which means having to secure external providers on specific dates, organise trips out, complete risk assessments etc.

For the Everton Cares programme I have to have the whole 12 weeks planned in advance before participants begin. Even registering participants to the next cohort while the current one is running takes a lot of organisation.

Weekly meetings with other members of the team and managers etc. require organisation.

It is extremely important to plan each week out in advance in terms of small things that need preparing for each session such as print-outs, registers, activities, presentations etc.

I work as part of the health and wellbeing team at EITC. We all coordinate different programmes across the charity and have our managers support us.

Teamwork is so important working in a charity as we all help each other across the different programmes when they require support. It’s also really useful that our skills and services cross over.  For example our Blue Base Food Pantry offers a variety of services which I have helped out at doing health screenings. A lot of the referrals I get for my programmes have come from my team sharing it with their participants too.

There are times when everyone needs extra support on their programmes and everyone is always willing and able to help out to improve the overall wellbeing of our participants.

Further, working for EITC means we collaborate with a lot of other businesses, charities and organisations. Merseycare have collaborated with us on the Everton Cares programme by providing us with our first cohort of participants and supporting with health screening events etc. I have also provided health screening services and chair-based exercise to Merseycare as part of their staff wellbeing days.

Mind-set traits - Resourceful, adaptable, lifelong learner; Positive and passionate; Value led and Ethical

I value learning and being a life-long learner. In my job, I am always looking to learn from others and for opportunities to further my skills. Being adaptable is key when things don’t go to plan which is more often than you think especially when delivering workshops. Being adaptable in different scenarios pays off when you work autonomously.

This makes the job so much easier as I am passionate about improving the wellbeing of other people. Being positive sets the tone to everyone else about how the sessions are going to be. In general, there are more benefits to having a positive attitude as if things don’t go as planned or as well as you hoped there is a learning opportunity or a chance to make things better.

Living your life in a value-led way is beneficial particularly in the workplace as many employers have values too. When your own values match an employer’s then you both have the same overall goals. I find reminding myself of my values useful when it comes to making decisions in the workplace as you can base your goals on your values. In my role, being ethical is vital as I am the safeguard lead for my programmes. All my actions need to represent EITC’s values and be ethical for all participants that I work with.

Support from the Student Futures team 

If you want to talk about potential careers options with your degree, need help finding opportunities or want support with your CV, application forms or preparing for an interview, you can get advice and guidance by booking a 30-minute 1-2-1 careers meeting with a Careers and Employability Adviser from the LJMU Student Futures Team.  You can also come along to a Careers drop-in or CV Café which take place weekly at the Careers Zones for quick careers queries.

If you are thinking about starting a business, freelancing, pursuing a side-hustle or have an idea that you want to explore further, email the Start-up Hub and a member of the team will be back in touch, or visit the Start-up Hub website.

For help finding part-time, temporary or casual you can fit around your studies, email the Unitemps team or visit their website