Charlotte Smith* is an alumna of BA (Hons) Childhood Development & Playwork, graduating in 2019. She now works as a trafficking specialist, and credits a lot of her career success to her course experience at Leeds Beckett.

Course: BA (Hons) Childhood Development & Playwork

*name changed to protect identity

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you've been doing since you graduated.

I graduated in July 2019 with a first-class degree at Leeds Beckett University. Since then, I've continued to develop my knowledge and practice within the health and social care field, supporting the most vulnerable children, adults, and families in our society.

I've supported children and young people in the looked after childcare system, supporting with their emotional health and wellbeing. I then went on to provide holistic support to families facing barriers to education and employment, some of which included low school attendance, homelessness, domestic violence and abusive relationships, mental health and substance misuse.

In the last three years, I've been providing specialist support for children who have been exploited through trafficking and modern slavery.

I'm looking forward to taking a step into a new chapter of my career, identifying vulnerable children and adults navigating the criminal justice system and referring them to appropriate health and social care services with the view of diverting them away from the criminal justice system.

Tell us a bit more about your current role and why it's amazing.

As a practitioner supporting children that have been exploited through trafficking and modern slavery, my role is to advocate in their best interests to work towards protecting them from further harm.

I help promote recovery, supporting them with emotional and practical trauma of being trafficked, to understand social care, immigration, and criminal justice processes, and collaborating with other partner agencies to work together to promote children's safety and wellbeing.

My favourite part of my role is meeting lots of children from different countries, learning about their culture and country of origin whether that be food, music or traditions.

How did your course at Leeds Beckett help you get to where you are today?

It was during a university placement in a prison establishment that sparked my interest and passion for working within the field of criminal justice and supporting vulnerable people navigating the system.

This provided the foundation of my journey to work towards this specific sector, where in my current job role, I've been predominantly supporting victims of child criminal exploitation. Now, I'm taking a further step forward and look forward to starting my new role as a recovery worker in the criminal justice sector.

My course at Leeds Beckett certainly shaped who I am today as a practitioner, putting children at the heart of what we do, and adapting playwork theory and practice to empower children, promote them to be in control, and create horizontal relationships that are so important when building up trust.

I enjoy embedding playwork into my practice and interventions with children and young people, supporting to build on empowerment which is something that was once been taken away from them through their experiences of trafficking and modern slavery.

What support or opportunities did you receive at Leeds Beckett that have helped shaped your career?

I've experienced some fantastic university placements that all transpired to paid work and/ or longer-term volunteering opportunities.

I've had the experience of youth and playwork in communities, providing safe spaces for children to play, share experiences, and gain a sense of belonging in the community which shaped my dissertation. My placement in a prison establishment has been an important aspect of my journey and shaped my career as I've found my passion for criminal justice.

I've been invited back to Leeds Beckett University on a few occasions now to speak with other existing Childhood Development & Playwork students about the work I do which has been really interesting to meet others and talk about mutual topics and subjects we are passionate about. I really appreciated and valued all the support I was given by the tutors on the course, particularly from Mike Wragg, who consistently pushed me to develop to my full potential.

Can you tell us about a project, piece of work or experience from university that you're proud of?

I'm really proud of my dissertation. When I started the BA (Hons) Childhood Development & Playwork course, some of the marks on my assignments were disappointing and I think it's fair to say I struggled a little.

I didn't give up and worked really hard throughout the three years up to my dissertation in which I won the Childhood Development & Playwork dissertation award at my graduation and got the highest mark in the class.

What would you say to someone considering studying your course?

I'm so glad I stumbled across the Childhood Development & Playwork course at Leeds Beckett as it really is a unique course with a variety of learning aspects.

It's a degree that can be used to really shape your career and pathway you want to go down and I really believe as a practitioner you have the ability to offer something distinctive that other practitioners in the field with non-playwork background can offer. There's opportunities to study/ complete a placement abroad which is something I wish I'd done now looking back.

What's next for you?

As I've already been too eager to share, I've found my passion in the field of criminal justice, and I'm continuing to take steps down different paths of my journey, supporting vulnerable children and adults in the criminal justice system.

I'm looking forward to continuing to embed and promote playwork practice in the work I do and share with others, and I'm excited for my next adventure.