Throughout October we will be marking Black History Month by promoting voices of our colleagues at UHP. Our third in the series, comes from Pharmacy and Kolene, who’s writing has been inspired by reading stories from our colleagues Black History Month blogs… 

“Some of you may know of the beautiful St Vincent and Grenadines islands in the Caribbean. There are 32 islands and Quays, and the main island is St Vincent which forms one of four ‘Winward’ islands. Characterised by its black sand beaches due to it being home of the Volcano ‘La Soufriere’, nature trails and waterfalls. Mustique one of the Grenadine islands has been home to many celebrities; Tommy Hilfiger, David Bowie and Princess Margaret to name just a few. I was born on the main Island St. Vincent where I lived with my parents and siblings. It is an untouched place; it still holds many of its natural beauties and is known as ‘Hairouna’ – Land of the Blessed. 

Since my early days I had a yearning to see the world, to discover new places and opportunities, and to work my way into a role within healthcare. As a citizen of the commonwealth, I joined the British Royal Navy in 2006, and this helped me to achieve some of those ambitions. I met my husband in the military too – he was from another of the Winward islands called St Lucia, but thanks to their French influence spoke creole. I had wanted to learn to a role in the Navy which would help me realise my intentions of becoming a healthcare worker. During my training which saw me serve in Iraqi waters protecting the oil platforms, I started to develop so many key skills in teamwork and working under pressure, but I had a passion to become a dental nurse and had interests in pharmacy too. However, I developed a chronic illness and had to cut short my military career 6 years after joining. I did leave service with fond memories of my time in the navy, with an Iraq Medal and a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal to show.  

Coming out of the navy, and with it my dreams of following a route into healthcare, is where my life started to change dramatically. 

As Plymouth is so close to the sea, with amazing places to explore, we settled here and made the city our home. I spoke about my intentions for a career in healthcare, and I actually applied for a job in the pharmacy department at UHP in 2012. I wasn’t successful, which was a huge blow, however the advice someone gave me was to pursue work experience if this was something I was really passionate about. The time that particular person took to talk to me about feedback from my interview was so valuable, and it meant a lot to have had that input. Their advice ended up influencing my journey many years later… 

So, I didn’t get the job at UHP, but determined I went away and worked in community pharmacy voluntarily for three months to build my experience. I was then taken on as a trainee dispenser and did both my NVQ 2 Healthcare Advisor and NVQ 2 Pharmacy Dispensing.  

Things were looking up for me initially, but this is where I then started to receive bullying and harassment in my role in which I can only pin down to the colour of my skin.  

The working culture and environment were completely different to that of the military, where team ethos and looking after each other was key – here it was non-existent. I would face racist remarks from customers, and never received any support from colleagues to challenge those behaviours or to ask if I was ok. It developed among the team I worked in too. I would overhear conversations about me, would be treated differently to others when asking for annual leave or equitable working patterns like my colleagues. Conversations towards me were aggressive and I became unwell, scared to come into work. To this day, I will never understand the reasons for being on the end of these attitudes and behaviours. I was the only non-white person in the workplace, and I was never treated the same.  

Throughout my life until this point, I had been a confident individual. Despite my knockdown of cutting short a military career, I was a determined and passionate person. These episodes of racism were tearing me down and stripping away that confidence I once had. The person I was, was no longer there, but with the help and encouragement from mum, is what helped me through each day. 

I needed to leave. Again, I saw a role appear for UHP Pharmacy and I jumped at the chance to apply. Low and behold that same person who gave me advice 5 years ago to go and gain experience was on the panel again. She remembered me, talked to me about the skills I had gone away and developed. Despite the behaviours I had been subjected to, I had developed my career and my workplace skills and was now in a much better place to succeed in applying to the position.  

Getting the job, my determination and confidence started to come back being in an environment at UHP in which I could relate to other people, and see my hard work recognised. Seeing other cultures work together made me feel wanted, valued, and welcomed. My confidence started to come back, and I applied for more positions within the department. I was unsuccessful twice in trying to become a Pharmacy Technician and I’m not afraid to say this truly gutted me – I cried on many occasions!  

I was then approached by a senior leader in the department who took an interest in my development and what I wanted to do with my career. The conversations, time and effort he spent investing in me as a person and developing my interview skills were invaluable. This could not be further from the culture I experienced in the community setting, where I felt an outcast and not cared about – he showed true leadership that went above and beyond to develop me.  

I have subsequently qualified and registered as a Pharmacy technician and nowadays you will find me on the wards helping patients and staff. I look back at what has been a 10-year journey full of barriers not of my own making to get here – I now have a valuable job in working alongside our skilled colleagues in sorting medications and creating interventions for patients that contribute to their health and their safety. 

It has been tough to reflect on certain things in my life and put this blog together. It is not easy to write about yourself, let alone talk about the things you’ve been subjected to. I hope nobody experiences some of the things that I have been through, but I know there is so much value in reading about the experiences of others. The very reason I have written this is from reading Ronique Samuel’s blog last year, and Theresia’s blog this year. They genuinely inspired me and made me feel like it was safe to put words on paper. Ronique is from the Caribbean like me, and to know we have a connection despite being thousands of miles from our homeland is comforting.  

This is why Black History Month matters to me. Whilst our larger trust team is predominantly white, we are diverse, and we rightly mark that diversity. Recognising events that are special and meaningful to people within our wider community creates an inclusive environment where everyone can be themselves. 

October marks the start of Black History Month 2024. Each year the commemorative month focusses on a theme – this year the theme looks at ‘Reclaiming Narratives’. The topic intends to highlight a shift towards recognising and correcting the narratives of black history and culture. This year, we will mark the week with a range of voices from our global majority colleagues and what ‘reclaiming narratives’ means to them as we celebrate and recognise the history and diversity of the people that make up our trust. Each week we will release a new blog.