Marie moved from school head to be a Citizens Advice outreach adviser
From school head to outreach post – my first few weeks.
Marie provides a CAEE outreach service at the Advice Café at St Barnabas Church in Epsom every Friday morning and all day on the second Friday every month. (3 min)
Recently I joined CAEE as an outreach adviser after 30 years in education as a school head and classroom teacher. This experience has meant I have been able to bring many transferable skills to my new role.
Skills such as understanding a complex situation, clarifying it for the client and finding a way forward. Empathy is key too. Sometimes a client may be stressed and respond to me in a challenging way. Being able to recognise their emotional state, remain composed, and help put them at ease is important.
Changing pace
Schools operate at a fast pace, but the advisory process needs to be much slower. I realised this and changed my pace and have seen the impact this has on the client. With this slower approach, I see how the advice service CAEE offers allows clients to set actions and solve problems for themselves.
Schools are also full of policies and procedures, so I see a real crossover here too. Keeping on top of policies, procedures and keeping accurate client notes is essential in Citizens Advice.
Moving from a school environment to a shared office has been a big change. Luckily with supportive staff around me, this has got easier (although I can often be seen wearing headphones to cut out background noise!)
Communication and listening
As a teacher, it is important to connect very quickly with staff, pupils and parents. As an adviser, it is also very important to connect quickly with the client and make them feel at ease. Good communication and listening skills are essential to understand the client’s issue.
I have particularly noticed that many problems I come across at CAEE are like those shared by families at school. The family support workers I worked with at school are now to be trained as CA First Aid Advisers. This will reduce their workload as they will know where to go for specific or specialist support. They will also have the advantage of working in partnership with CAEE.
For someone who wanted to come out of the fast-paced school environment, I have found CAEE to be a good match. I’m still working with people, using my skills in empathy and problem solving. And always something new and unexpected around the corner!
Marie was in conversation with Jane Sheils, Volunteer Head of Communications, CAEE.
If like Marie you might be able to put skills built up over the years to a new use, why not consider becoming a Citizens Advice volunteer? More information here.