A week in the life of…Doz

Hi, I’m Doz and I’m the newest Co-ordinator at Wakefield Recovery College – I’m here for around a year looking after Emily’s courses whilst she’s on Maternity Leave. Prior to this I worked for Leeds Recovery College, and I’ve loved working with my new team since joining in August.

I work 4 days a week, Monday – Thursday, so my week usually starts with catching up on anything I may have missed from the previous Friday. I work primarily from home, so I like to start my day by creating a really cosy environment to work in. Now it’s winter, I’ll often be in nice warm socks and an Oodie. I love music but don’t want to be distracted by singing along (a very real possibility) so I have a couple of playlists I’ve curated of some excellent instrumental albums that I like to play while I work by artists such as Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band, Mac Demarco and Yin Yin. I recently bulk bought some new incense sticks, so I also like to light one of those to really enhance the calming space before tackling that inbox!

One thing I love about my new team is how communicative we all are, we have a catch up every morning and although sometimes it’s a slow starter as everyone’s waking up at their own pace, it’s such a lovely way to start your day. And starting the day with a natter can be so valuable when you work from home and might not speak to anyone else all day!

Between Rachel & I, we manage around 90 courses – so my week always begins with checking over our spreadsheets that help us to keep track of the actions required before each course can take place. I do my best to make sure that all our wonderful staff, partners, volunteers and team have everything they need ready to deliver to our students their respective courses.

As I’m still pretty new, I’ve been attending some courses as a student to see how things are done at Wakey, improve my knowledge and maintain my personal wellbeing. I’m currently attending our course Freedom from Fibromyalgia on Mondays, which has been really interesting for me as both myself and my partner have this condition but didn’t know a huge amount about it. It’s also given me an insight into how courses can be delivered in a hybrid manner, I’ve been attending this course virtually over teams whilst some students are there in person at Prosper House – a new method of delivery for me.

My working week tends to be really varied, with no two the same. I often have meetings in place where I meet potential new partners and get to hear about what they’d like to bring to our college. It’s so inspiring seeing where people’s passions lie, and I feel very lucky I get to play a part in bringing these unique experiences to our students.

My personal passions are exploring grief/loss, LGBTQIA+ awareness & advocacy, creative writing and cinema – particularly horror. I hope that within this fixed term role I’ll be able to maintain all the amazing courses Emily co-ordinated to a high standard for her to pick up upon her return and to maybe find a way to utilise my passions to co-create and deliver something for our students that can be my legacy for our students after I’m gone. Watch this space…