How Telford mother put abuse behind her
A mother-of three overcame an abusive relationship and regained her self-esteem by returning to education and working towards a degree.
Alisa Stretton, of Stirchley, Telford, initially contacted Telford College to discuss her options, and the move resulted in her embarking on a whole new career path.
The 36-year-old was already working as a teaching assistant in a special needs school and yearned to do more with her passion for helping disadvantaged families.
“I had just come out of an abusive relationship where I was told I would never achieve anything in life – and as a single mother-of-three, I wanted to prove to him, and to myself, that I was not worthless.
“Most of all, I wanted to show my children that studying was a good thing and to achieve the career path that you wanted, you need to put in the hard work,” she says.
“Telford College was local to where I lived, which was great as I still needed to work and needed to be local for childcare.
“So I enquired about possible courses and I never imaged that higher education would be a possibility as I’d been out of studying for so long, but how wrong I was.
“Learner manager for higher education, Caroline Bastow, was fantastic and after talking through all the options, I decided to opt for the health and social care foundation degree.
“From that day, right up until the last day at college, the support I received was amazing and any questions I had were answered.
“I made lifelong friends during my time at Telford College.”
She is now doing a top-up year at the University of Wolverhampton in health studies and social care.
