CAREERS
THE LIFE COACH AND FORMER SOCIAL WORKER TAMU THOMAS SHARES HER CAREER JOURNEY
AFTER UNIVERSITY, I GOT A SUMMER JOB AT RECORD COMPANY BMG RECORDS.
At first, I did admin, then I got a job in the sales department, then I started creating long-form videos.
I WAS ALSO VOLUNTEERING FOR THE REFUGEE COUNCIL, helping young people with interview skills.
After a while, I stopped caring if Britney Spears beat Christina Aguilera to a number one. After seeing my mum’s experience as a foster carer, I wanted to do something that would help people change their lives.
So, when I saw an advert in a local newspaper, I decided to become a trainee social worker.
I BECAME A CHILD PROTECTION SOCIAL WORKER and visited families who were experiencing difficulties: unemployment, abuse, poor socio-economic factors. The local authority would be considering legal proceedings to separate the family and place the children with other family members, or in foster care or with another family via adoption. It was my role to visit the families, assess them, and create a package of support.
I USED TO TAKE GAMES TO PLAY, not just to entertain the children, but because when you see a family playing a game you can learn a lot about them: how they share, how they win or lose, how they support one another or not. I would monitor them to see whether the parents were able to make the changes that would enable the children to stay at home.
A LOT OF MY TIME WAS SPENT ADVOCATING FOR FAMILIES, because local authorities are underfunded. It was rewarding work, but it was also soul-destroying because of the lack of resources. There were sometimes threats from families. And I worked long hours – if I had to place a child in foster care, invariably, it would be after school. I was always ringing somebody to collect my daughter from nursery or school. Eventually, I started to experience panic attacks. The workload become unsustainable.
ONE DAY, I LOOKED AT MY DAUGHTER AND THOUGHT, I DON’T WANT THIS TO BE YOUR EXPERIENCE. I’m having to scrape energy from the bottom of the barrel to be present with you. I wanted to be home when she got home, t
