Angela Walker has just been appointed to our staff. She writes:-
“I’m the newest member of Headway staff - but not the youngest! I started work on 2nd December 2002 as the Lifelong Learning Development Worker. This is a new post made possible by the Community Fund grant that Sylvia managed to get and is an exciting development for Headway.

Angela working with Steve Chell
My job is to find and set up learning opportunities for Headway members and to support people who want to take part in educational courses. These could take place at Headway House, at outreach centres or in colleges and community centres throughout the city and county.

There are lots of opportunities available for people and it’s my job to help members take part in the ones they want to do. Lifelong learning can mean learning a huge range of skills from cookery to using the Internet to improving your reading or maths skills. Have you considered learning Yoga or creative writing or even learning or relearning a work skill such as word-processing? Why not give it a try? Somewhere there will be a course available for you and I hope I can give you all the support you need to be a successful learner.

Before I moved to Headway I was a teacher, specialising in working with people with disabilities so I know something about the difficulties Headway members could face in learning new subjects. Sometimes it is important to start off in a less pressured way than going straight into a college course. I am hoping to start some ‘tailor made’ courses that will suit individual members, in very small groups at Headway House, the outreach centres or even in people’s homes or hospital. I believe very strongly that people can gain selfesteem and confidence through learning things a step at a time. I also believe that learning never stops – whatever your age or your circumstances.

Please talk to me, or to any member of staff if you feel you want some support for your lifelong learning.”