Swanton’s Kayleigh Evans was clad in gown and mortar board last week to celebrate her graduation ceremony.
Kayleigh, former Deputy Manager at Dan Y Graig, who is moving to the PBS team, was awarded a degree in Applied Psychology (BA) from the University of Wales Trinity St David.
The mother-of-two combined her studies with her day job at Swanton for the last three years, often studying late into the night to ‘make the grade’.
Kayleigh, who has worked for Swanton for 12 years, explained what motivated her to go back into education.
She said: “From my work here at Swanton I’ve always been fascinated by the mind, so I was very keen to study psychology.
“Lots of what I’ve learnt over the last three years has helped me understand to a deeper level some of the behaviours of the people we support. It certainly gives you a fresh perspective on things.
“It was a bit of a shame that going to university coincided with the pandemic, it meant it wasn’t quite the experience I had in my mind of student life, but I’m thrilled to have graduated now and to have my degree!”
And it seems that her success has given Kayleigh a taste for academia as she now plans to undertake a follow-on Masters Degree in Children and Young People’s Mental Health.
She added: “I’m in the process of applying at the moment and fingers crossed I will be accepted for the course. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to learn even more doing a Masters that I can apply in my day job, and also use to further my career.
“Going back into education is definitely something I would recommend to other people – but be warned, you do need to be willing to juggle your time a bit!”
