Case Studies

The 26-year-old’s steely determination and resilience was recognised this year when she was awarded the ‘Outstanding Commitment to Study’, Agored Cymru Access to Higher Education Learner of the Year Award.
Karly said:

 

"I experienced a very difficult childhood; violence, addiction, abuse and neglect, the death of both my parents and being taken into care. Growing up, I missed a lot of school which meant I was always behind. I was also badly bullied for many years because of my hair colour, my dirty clothes or broken shoes and I was left partially blinded in one eye after being hit in the eye with a stone. School was very difficult. I was often overlooked by the teachers because of my situation.I never  felt supported or cared about in school. They tried to encourage me to leave early and attend college. No one expected me to get more than one GCSE but I didn’t want to leave. I loved it. It was my escape from home life."

 

However, at the age of 16 and midway through her GCSEs, Karly found herself helping to care for her brothers as her mother had passed away suddenly.

Despite achieving 7 GCSEs, Karly left education and fell into an abusive relationship experiencing periods of homelessness. Karly continues:

 

"Somehow I found the strength to leave the relationship. I sought help from a women’s refuge and started to rebuild my life. I found a job with EE and Gamestation and began a relationship with my daughter’s father. A year into the relationship, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, Abigail. It was an extremely difficult pregnancy, I suffered two strokes which left scarring on my brain. The doctors didn’t know how we survived. When the doctors told me that Abigail should have died, I fell into a spiral of anxiety. I began hearing voices and suffered psychotic episodes."

 

But it wasn’t until faced with prospect of returning to work that Karly suffered a breakdown, and sought help from Brynmair Mental Health Clinic Crisis team. Diagnosed with extreme PTSD, Karly began her journey into recovery through Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Trauma Therapy. She has also become a Christian which has helped her in every-day life. It was during one of the therapy sessions that Karly began to explore what her future might look like.
Karly continues:

 

"I decided that I wanted to return to education and become a social worker, helping children and families who were in a similar situation to me. My therapist suggested I look into doing an Access to Higher Education Diploma."

 

After making some initial enquiries, Karly attended an open day at Gower College Swansea where she met with some of the Access tutors and successfully completed some initial assessments. In September 2017, Karly began her journey back into education and enrolled onto an Access to Higher Education Diploma in Social Care.
Karly continues:

 

"It wasn’t easy going back into education. For a long time, the only time I left the house was to go to therapy. I struggled with noise and suffered from severe panic attacks. I was very paranoid and struggled with hallucinations. I had to learn how to be around a people in a social setting. I thought I was going to lose Abigail, just like I’ve lost  my parents.  I also had to relearn some basic life skills as well as learn how to study again."

 

However, with the continued support of her Access tutors and her own sheer determination, Karly graduated in July 2018 with 36 distinctions and 9 merits and an offer from Swansea University to study Social Work.
Suzanne Arnold, Karly’s tutor