DECADES OF DEDICATION

As the King's Trust celebrates its 50th birthday, we speak to three women who have had life-changing experiences with the organisation

- JOHANNA BELL

'Meeting the King was a pinch-me moment!'

Cherelle Knight, 34, lives in Birmingham with her four daughters. 'What do you do, Mummy?' my daughter Jah'lia, then nine, asked one evening. It was February 2021 and, having had Jah'lia when I was 19, followed by La'viya, then seven, Miah, four, and Tiah, three, my career had taken a back seat. A single mum, I'd never had time to focus on me. 'I'm your mummy,' I replied. 'But also I want to be a nurse one day.' It had always been my dream, but there was one problem; I only had one GCSE. I'd heard about the Get into Health and Social Care programme run by The King's Trust - or the Prince's Trust, as it was then - helping people find work in the NHS, and I'd even applied a few times over the years. But each time life stresses got in the way. As I approached my 30th birthday that June, I realised I'd no longer qualify for the course once I hit 30. So, a few weeks before, and with Jah'lia's question in my mind, I gave it one last shot - and got a place!

After completing the course, involving training and learning about different roles, four weeks later, I applied for jobs with support from a mentor and landed a role doing pre-op checks on patients at Solihull Hospital.

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