My name is Katy and I work at Devon Partnership NHS Trust as the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager. I live in Devon with my two young children (1 and 4).

As a bit of background about me, I trained in Human Resources when I left college, achieving my CIPD Associate level membership over a decade ago. After a period of time working as a Specialist Recruitment Consultant in Devon, I moved to work at Devon Partnership NHS Trust and have been with the Trust for roughly ten years. I have studied strategic approaches to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) to ensure I keep myself well appraised on the challenges and developments of the subject, and able to respond effectively. I have also recently undertaken a EMCC Global Programme Manager course along with accreditation as an individual coach and mentor. This has been beneficial in supporting my learning as I developed our new in-house reciprocal mentoring programme, which is due to launch in September!

I found high school a very challenging environment, and sadly suffered a traumatic loss on the first day of my GCSE’s, meaning I left high school with pretty much no achievements other than my ‘C’ grade in English. I have worked hard to ‘find myself’ over the years, and to work in an environment where I am passionate about making a difference. I am so very proud to have been nominated and have my work to improve outcomes for others recognised, but also to have achieved all I have in my career to date.

I work in EDI as I see the challenges faced by so many which we need to do more to address. There are so many inequalities for people. I see working carers suffering from burnout, menopausal women struggling to manage symptoms in the workplace, challenges as technology changes at pace and incidents of racism and violence towards internationally educated colleagues. As my children and their friends grow up and start to work, I want them to have the very best opportunities to feel included, valued and respected for the incredible individuals they are.