Watch Gary talk about returning to education on YouTube
I was a furniture maker for 26 years before I decided to pursue a career in care. It was like a duck taking to water really; I felt like I should have been doing it for years and the change made me start looking at my education. I started my GCSEs and approached the Lifelong Learning Centre at the University for advice on what I should do next.
I completed the Preparation for Higher Education foundation year – it’s an exceptional course and I felt more than prepared to progress on to the BSc Nursing (Mental Health) course. Any doubts I had about returning to education were wiped out. The support I received from the University and the Lifelong Learning Centre was second to none. I kept pinching myself that I was on a degree course at 47 years old. I would say to anyone who is thinking about returning to university, forget whatever you think you can’t do, you can do it, and the support is there.