I am a fifty something year old, married mum of 2 teenage boys, who was born and raised in Greater Manchester and has spent her whole working life within Greater Manchester.
I moved to West Yorkshire to study at university and qualified as a Chartered Physiotherapist in 1993.
I spent a formative 3 years on rotation in a big general hospital but quickly fell in love with community and neurology and since 1996, community is where I've stayed.
Working in neuro rehab in the community, with adults or children, you quickly realise that you can't possibly meet all the needs of a person and their family and that you need to be part of a much bigger team.
You also realise that some of the team members you need are outside of your usual network of health and social care; they're a family support worker from the Stroke Association, a primary school teacher, an advisor from the job centre, the local reverend or sport club coach (to name a few).
You also realise that so much more is possible and that better outcomes can be achieved, when you break away from working in professional isolation.
My whole career, I've either worked within or managed multi professional, multi agency teams, who have put what it is that's important to the person, at the centre of their work and the practitioners have included whoever they needed to include, to met the person's goals.
I didn't realise it back then but that's integration; when separate people or things are brought together.
The crucial part of integration is to ensure that the total is greater than the sum of it's parts; by integrating, something better for people, communities, staff, etc is created.
In my current role as an Integrated Neighbourhood Team Lead, this is my focus.
The opportunities we have to work differently and be creative, so we get the best outcomes we can, from the finite resources we have available to us, is what get's me out of bed in the morning.