Sharron Wallace – Distance Learning

Name: Sharron Wallace - Distance Learning Mental Health Awareness

Course Name: Level 2 Awareness of Mental Health Problems

Course Type: Distance Learning

Image Caption: NWSLC students Sharron Wallace Distance Learning
Sharon works as Director of Training for Access Training which provides support for around 200 apprentices in the North East of England. She started her distance learning course in Awareness of Mental Health Problems to support her continuous professional development as part of her lead role on safeguarding for the organisation.

Sharon said, “We support many young people and school leavers aged 16 plus. We have also been involved in delivering some adult education and many of our clients were vulnerable adults. We were working to provide them with employability skills and so it was important for me to be able to bridge the gap in my understanding of the issues that they are facing.

“People face many different types of mental health issues from bi-polar disorder to PTSD. I thought it would be useful to understand the basics about these conditions especially as I often act in the signposting role and like to be able to point people in the right direction to access support.”

Having started her Level 2 qualification in December 2019, Sharon found that its relevance increased as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, and she was pleased to have completed it just before the start of lockdown in March.

Sharon added, “Obviously the impact of COVID-19 has been significant, and our team found themselves dealing with complex scenarios, so the course materials became increasingly useful and I was very pleased to have completed the training.”

Sharon completed her course within 12 weeks and was pleased with the support of her college assessor who kept her on track, providing weekly updates as well as prompts and reminders. Sharon found the hard copy course materials and workbooks particularly useful.

She added, “It was really helpful to have somewhere to record all my notes before completing the course questions online. Not all distance learning courses have printed materials, so this was a plus point for me. Also, the NWSLC course is accredited by NCFE which is an awarding body we trust as training providers ourselves.”