Health Education England (HEE) is delighted to announce that students from Newport Girls’ High School are the West Midlands regional winners of the Step into the NHS national schools' competition.
Students Victoria Elsmore, Amber Jones and Leah Godfrey impressed the judges with their entry to promote the role of an art therapist to their peers. The girls created a video which allowed students to better understand what an art therapist in the NHS does on a day-to-day basis.
Now in its eighth year, the competition attracted numerous entries from up and down the country and more than 3,000 students got involved. The competition aims to promote the 350 plus careers available in health and students were tasked with designing an advertisement and job description for their chosen role. They could work individually or in groups of up to four.
Victoria said: "Before the competition, I wasn’t aware that art therapy was an actual career but when I researched it, it really interested me. I learnt about how art therapists encourage their patients to draw to show their emotions in a way that doesn’t involve as much speaking which may be a more suitable form of therapy for some people.”
Amber and Leah added: “Before the competition, we’d never really heard of a career in the NHS that wasn’t based in a hospital environment and were curious as to how art and creativity could be used in therapy. We learnt that art therapy can be the cure to many mental illnesses affecting young people like us today.”
Alan Simmons, Careers specialist for Health Education England, said: "I’d like to congratulate Victoria Elsmore, Amber Jones, Leah Godfrey and Newport Girls’ High School for their fantastic entry. Young people are extremely important to the future of the NHS workforce. It is important that the NHS engages with young people now and lets them know about the wealth of career opportunities.
“There are 350 different careers to choose from in health and jobs range from community matron, dietician or public health analyst to a finance manager or web developer. Initiatives such as the schools competition really help to raise awareness of this. Bearing in mind that it’s mental health awareness week this week, it was even more topical presenting Victoria, Amber and Leah with their prizes as they’d chosen the role of art therapist for their competition entry”
