Access all areas

Phew, thank goodness that’s over! I’m pleased to say that I have completed my ‘Access to Higher Education for Health Professionals’ course and can now breathe a big sigh of relief.  The tutors warned us at the start of the course, in September last year, that it would be stressful, and they weren’t wrong. It’s the equivalent of doing three ‘A’ levels in one year and it has made me a horrible person to be around at times.

But now it’s over, and I am delighted, and very proud too, to say that I have achieved distinctions in every graded module. This means that I can start the Midwifery degree in September feeling much more confident in my academic abilities.  And I have been told by quite a few people that the access course is harder than the first year of university.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see about that.

For although I have many qualifications, none of them are recognised outside of the world of complementary therapies. And although I’ve always considered myself quite bright, I lost my way at the end of secondary school and managed to scrape through my GCSEs, but not achieve any higher (nationally recognised) qualifications, hence having to do the access course.

I do love learning and have continued to learn throughout my career. I am fascinated by how our bodies work and the more I learn, the more I become in awe of the human body. It has been a challenge to my holistic, non-pharmaceutical approach to health to reduce the body to cells, organs, systems, diagnoses and prognoses. Especially considering I have been delving into terrain theory over the last 18 months (more on that to come later), and have always believed that, given the right conditions, the body can heal itself.

I am excited to start the midwifery degree in September, and apprehensive too.  I fell in love with massage and essential oils 20 years ago. I fell in love with supporting women to breastfeed their babies seven years ago.  I don’t know if I’m going to fall in love with being a midwife, and I already know that I don’t like the system in which midwifery sits. However, what has kept me going through this access course, and what will continue to drive me through the degree is that the world needs midwives like me.  Watch this space…