Conner qualified as a mental health nurse in 2019 and always liked the idea of nursing as a career.
“When I was younger,” remembers Conner “I helped my mum support my grandad when he wasn’t well and continued to do so after he went into a nursing home, before he passed away.
“I’ve always been a caring person, wanting to support friends and family, so nursing seemed a good career to choose. Looking after my grandad opened my eyes to the sort of relationship you can have with someone whilst you’re caring for them.”
Conner is in his first nursing role as a Community Mental Health Nurse supporting people with severe mental illness, mostly in their own homes but also at outpatient appointments.
“I really enjoy the one to one therapeutic aspects of mental health nursing,” says Conner “I love supporting people with additional needs and promoting wellness, encouraging people to think about their mental and physical health.
“I enjoy helping people to become more independent and seeing them gradually get better. I look at people’s needs from different angles and see how to get other agencies involved to give this person the best chance of becoming independent and promoting the best quality of life for them.
“But it’s strange to be working remotely at the moment because of Covid-19 restrictions. We’re still doing some face to face visits as well as phone calls, but it’s difficult to properly assess someone over the phone.”
Conner was nominated for a Cavell Star Award for going above and beyond for his patients. Consultant Psychiatrist and colleague Dr Helen Pears explains,
“Conner’s judgment and expertise are excellent. He is energetic and fun to work with and completely dedicated to his work, forming great rapport with his patients.
“During the COVID outbreak he has proven this even more and has gone above and beyond to support patients and colleagues. He has given huge numbers of depots at home to prevent vulnerable patients having to leave their homes for their medicines. He has taken on huge amounts of extra work cheerfully during the staff shortage. He has kept his colleagues in mind throughout. He even bought a box of ice lollies for everyone who was busy inside on shift on a sunny day to keep their spirits up recently. He thoroughly deserves a huge thank you.”
Conner’s team mate Cathy also received a Cavell Star Award. Conner reacted to winning his award,
“It was completely out of the blue! A bit of a shock but lovely at the same time. I’ve only been working with Dr Pears for a short while but she is an inspiration to me so to be recognised by her and the team is amazing. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant we’ve all had to step up and take on more responsibility in our roles and I’ve seen this as me fulfilling my duty to keep staff and patients safe an ensure smooth running of the service.
“My team is fantastic, we all pull together at times of crisis and that’s really important for the safety of the service. I want to thank my colleague Cathy Roberts too for being such a good role model for me and moulding me into the practitioner I am today.”