“Building a relationship with children, supporting them to achieve their goals and helping them make a difference are the most important things.”

“Building a relationship with children, supporting them to achieve their goals and helping them make a difference are the most important things.”

Why I work at Sheffield Children’s: Angela Crookes – Deputy Clinical Nurse Manager

Angela is part of the Amber Lodge team at the Becton Centre, which sees patients aged 5-11 who have serious and complex mental health problems. Amber Lodge is one of a number of lodges at Becton; the others are Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby and Topaz. The Centre is also home to the Community CAMHS team and has an on-site school.

She has been working at Sapphire Lodge since it opened in 2011 and has now been at Amber Lodge for 18 months. The children who come to Amber Lodge might be there for a few weeks, months or a year. She and the rest of the team always tailor their services for each child who visits.

Describing her role, Angela said: “I support the Nurse Manager in the day-to-day running of the lodge. What’s great for me is the mix of clinical and managerial work. I get to help out on the unit every so often and it means I keep my clinical skills up too.

“It’s all about the children, engaging them and working with them to help them achieve their goals. We talk to them when they arrive about what they might like to do. This doesn’t fit for every child but they might, for example, want to learn to ride a bike so we can build in activities which can support them in that. It means that each child can be more engaged too.

“Amber is different to others lodges at Becton. We’re smaller, and I think that’s why we’re such a close-knit team. We get on well, support each other and share ideas.”

Angela’s role can be challenging but also very rewarding, she said: “When you see the progression in children, from when they first arrive to when they leave. You can see them managing things better. Building a relationship with children, supporting them to achieve their goals and helping them make a difference are the most important things.”