Please watch this introduction video about our new team member, Rory!
And I’m Bethany! I am delighted to introduce myself as a new member of the Citizen Checkers team! Along with Rory, I am training to be a Quality Checker.
I feel very lucky to be here, to have the opportunity to take my career in a new direction, making a real difference to people’s lives, and I am grateful to find myself in such a supportive team. I already feel very valued for my strengths, passion and lived experience as a neurodivergent person with lots to offer. With a background in academic and creative writing, I am looking to assist the team with report writing, and will also be helping to develop this brand new blog to showcase our accomplishments.
We’ve covered a lot this first month! Weekly team training sessions, citizenship and co-production workshops, shadowing Teams meetings with local health organisations, and completing a variety of training courses on Open Future Learning.
Last week, we even helped facilitate Citizen Checkers’ first large-scale event at the Eden Project, hosting Simon Duffy and Wendy Perez as they launched their new book, ‘Everyday Citizenship’, and providing workshops on the ‘7 Keys to Citizenship’. I personally helped with the planning and set-up of the Quiet Space at the event, providing a relaxed space with sensory aids for visitors and staff to use when feeling overwhelmed. It was a joy to be tasked with something so important to me and my own needs, to help others with sensory sensitivities and social fatigue. Rory on the other hand was centre-stage with the mic, helping to host the event and guiding our visitors through our itinerary. I also managed a little public speaking, which I’m excited to do more of in the future!
