Arts Therapy is increasingly recognised as a valuable treatment for people with a wide range of problems. Arts Therapists – who specialise in art, drama or music – use their chosen art form as a therapeutic intervention to help people with physical, mental, social and emotional difficulties. They work in many settings, including child or adult psychiatry, learning disabilities, forensic medicine and palliative care.

Health Care Assistants may also be known as Clinical Support Workers, Therapy Assistants, and Nursing Auxiliaries.

There are now strict laws designed to ensure that employers take action to prevent injury as a result of manual handling. The main law is the Manual Handling Operations Regulations. Employers are also required to have a written policy as part of their overall safety policy. Current figures from the Health and Safety Executive indicate that 60% of all manual handling accidents reported (over 14,000 a year) involve patient handling.

As a Podiatrist, you would be an autonomous professional, with your own caseload of patients, but you would also be part of a highly skilled multi-disciplinary team. You would diagnose, evaluate and treat a wide range of lower-limb disorders.

There are a number of assistant positions available within the Allied Health Professions. As an assistant, you might be interested in healthcare and enjoy dealing with people, these posts offer varied and rewarding work. In most cases, you will be working directly with patients, under the supervision of qualified staff.

Social care work is about helping people with their lives. People who have physical or psychological problems often require practical help coping with the everyday business of living. Social care workers provide this practical support.

Communication is vital to every aspect of our lives. Speech and Language Therapists work with people of all ages who have problems with communication or with chewing or swallowing. Their patients include children who need help with speech development, people with a speech defect, such as a stammer, and those who, because of accident or illness, have physical problems with eating.

Orthoptists play a key role in managing eye problems, mainly those that affect the way the eyes move. The conditions are sometimes caused by an injury or they might be linked to a health problem, such as stroke or multiple sclerosis. Orthoptists see patients of all ages, but their skills are particularly important in helping children with problems such as lazy eye or squint.

Occupational Therapists have a highly rewarding role. They help people to overcome physical, psychological or social problems arising from illness or disability, by concentrating not on what they are unable to do, but on what they may be able to achieve. It involves initiative, creative thinking and problem solving.

If you’re thinking about a change of career, why not try social care?  The people who work in social care help to improve the lives of local residents of all ages by providing a wide range of different services