Who is Taylor Hume?
I live and work in Central Scotland and I am preparing to transition from working as a Community Learning Disability Staff Nurse, which I have done since graduating three years ago, to working for the NHS as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Positive Behaviour Support (PBS).
I am passionate about nursing and the positive impact it can have, in particular in my chosen field of Learning Disability Nursing.
What was your time at Edinburgh Napier like?
I really enjoyed my time at Edinburgh Napier right from the word go.
As a mature student, who never thought they would get the chance to go to university and who was the first in my family to go to university, I knew I was going to make the most of it. I took every opportunity to experience the breadth of learning the University had to offer, such as attending open access lectures across the campuses, and took advantage of the opportunities presented by my own course. This ranges from sitting in the architecturally cool Lindsay Stewart lecture theatre, listening to a professor tell us about how he set up a hole in the wall computer for children to use in the slums of Delhi; to travelling to Oradea in Romania to explore and discuss the importance, dynamics and difficulties of multidisciplinary team working for professionals working with individuals with learning disabilities.
My most memorable moment was from the beginning of first year. It was early morning, sunny, little wisps of cloud floating by and the campus was very quiet. I was sitting on the top floor of the Learning Resource Centre at Sighthill, looking out the massive windows overlooking the city of Edinburgh, surrounded by journals and thinking I can’t believe I am at university.
Describe your career journey
My career journey since graduating has been relatively short and hopefully with a bit of luck has a long road to travel.
Straight after university, I knew that I wanted to work as a Community Learning Disability Nurse. This meant that I was going to have to be selective about which Health Board I applied to as not all the Boards accepted newly qualified nurses into that position. However, with my previous experience of working with people with learning disabilities and through the demonstration of knowledge gained at Edinburgh Napier, I was offered a position in a small specialist Positive Behaviour Support team, as a Community Nurse. So, dream job straight off the bat. I was super happy.
I hope I have not reached my career high point yet, but one recent achievement was being offered the promotion to Clinical Nurse Specialist in Positive Behaviour Support.
The main challenge for me in my life in general has been dyslexia. I remember telling my high school careers advisor that I wanted to be nurse and she saying, “oh no am afraid that’s not going to happen”. Well, it may have taken me a bit longer but I did get there. In actual fact, the work I did as a support worker and residential childcare worker before university really paid off as foundation for my future career. So, all’s well that ends well.
What does the future hold for you?
Having achieved my most recent goals with my promotion, I am going to have to formulate a new goal or plan. I intend to keep learning - there is always something new to learn about and I love that. I am also going to keep taking all the opportunities that come my way.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I am not sure about advice to my younger self, but I do have two pieces of general advice:
- If you can read and understand, then you can learn. If you can learn, it's just a matter of time and commitment before you can learn to do anything.
- The second piece of advice would be to take every opportunity that comes your way, even if it’s out of your comfort zone. I never thought I would have been good enough for university, but I pushed myself and it was the best decision I have made so far.
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