My name is Alice and I am about to start my final year of a three year
Masters degree in Therapeutic Counselling. With ‘children’ aged 27 and 30, I
fit into the extra mature category!
I left my Australian homeland in 1978 to discover more about my heritage
as a first generation Oz and haven’t got around to going home yet – despite the
lovely UK weather and stony beaches!
I left school at 16 with few qualifications. After 3 years doing the most boring job in the world relieved only by a hectic social life, I trained as a nurse. With no careers guidance, I thought it was the only way to get paid while gaining a qualification useful for travelling. A year after completing my course, I took off for London, travelled around Europe in a VW bug with a fellow Oz, then returned to London to study midwifery. After 5 years working in the NHS while the children were very young, I set up in independent practice with a friend. I had a wonderful 18 years of rushing around London on a big black motor bike working with women planning home births. They were such fun years, until I began to tire of the constant on calls and the unpredictability of my life. I wasn’t bouncing back quite as quickly after sleepless nights with labouring woman as I had been during my earlier partying years! After a stint as a breast feeding midwife in a central London Hospital, I decided on a complete change of career.
While Jack and Kate studied their A levels and GCSEs I obtained my BSc Anthropology at Goldsmiths College while still running the midwifery practice. That was such a hectic time as we fought over house work and computer access. Cleaning became a thing of the past and our house resembled Miss Haversham’s by the end of it all!
…but I was still not finished with studying! I have always been interested in the
way people tick and the transformative effect of life events. I chose this
programme for its integrative nature with the additional bonus of it being almost
on my doorstep. Although a complete
roller coaster at times, overall I have never regretted my decision to come
back to study and Greenwich is a great place to do it I combine my academic study with a stained
glass evening course, running community textile art projects and working in the
university enquiry unit.... but more of that in my blog so read on…..
