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A Mental Health Nursing student who was inspired to help others after receiving life-saving treatment for anorexia has secured her dream job in Leicester before graduating.

Third-year student Rebecca Hackfath (27) has just accepted a job offer as a staff nurse working for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT)’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), after completing a three-month placement there earlier this year.

Rebecca will finish her studies at Â鶹´«Ã½ later this year

“CAMHS is a really good preventative service that helps stop young people from going into adult mental health services,” explained Rebecca.

Based at Glenfield Hospital, LPT’s CAMHS offers inpatient mental health care to young people aged 13–18 suffering from acute mental health difficulties, including eating disorders.

“I knew I wanted to do a placement with CAMHS, because of my own experience, and as soon as I had the opportunity to work with the team, I knew that’s where I wanted to be; I knew it was the right fit for me,” she said.

Rebecca, who started studying at Â鶹´«Ã½ Leicester (Â鶹´«Ã½) in September 2018, realised she wanted to become a mental health nurse after spending several years in hospital battling an eating disorder.

“I remember when I was really ill I would sit in hospital wishing I could help others,” she said.  “The doctors, nurses, therapists and psychiatrists were all brilliant and it’s thanks to them that I got the help I needed.”

Rebecca’s difficult relationship with food started when she was just 15 but she did not get the specialist help she needed until she was 18. At her lowest, she weighed just four-and-a-half stone.

“Because I didn’t get help until I was an adult it took longer for me to get better,” she said. “That’s why the work CAMHS does it so important – it can be a real turning point for young people to get that support earlier and get their life back sooner.”

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As part of her new role Rebecca will be responsible for assessing, planning and implementing care to patients who are acutely unwell.

“During my placement I was given a mini case-hold of patients who I provided one-to-one care for,” she said. “I got experience in recovery work, relapse prevention, distress intolerance, home intervention visits, meal support and physical monitoring. I loved working with the team and everything has fallen into place since.

“I think that’s why it’s so important to do different placements. Even if you already know roughly the area of nursing you want to go into, it’s really important to go out and get real-life experience on the wards, working with real patients.

“It also helps with your studies, because you can see the end goal and you know what you are working towards throughout your degree.”

Alongside her placement, Rebecca says the support she received from her personal tutor and lecturers at Â鶹´«Ã½ have been crucial to her finding and securing her new role.

“The help and guidance I’ve had from Â鶹´«Ã½ has been invaluable, it’s been so beneficial,” she said. “My personal tutor, Melissa Wheeler, has been so amazing I can’t thank her enough for her support over the last three years.

“I’m also proud of myself that I’ve not relapsed and I think I have Â鶹´«Ã½ to thank for that, in a way. I have loved my time studying here, I feel like it’s made me the person and I am and more importantly, it’s made me the nurse that I am going to be in the future.”

Paul Williams, head of service for group 1 in the families, young people and children directorate at Leicestershire Partnership Trust, said: “It’s a real pleasure to see students gain employment at LPT after working on placement with us. We are committed to enhancing the career opportunities of healthcare students who work with us by providing them with the support and experience they need to excel.

“We’re really looking forward to Rebecca joining the LPT. Her positive attitude and drive to help others really shines through and I’m sure she will make a huge contribution to the team.”

Rebecca added: “I am just so glad I came to Â鶹´«Ã½ and I cannot think of any other university I would rather have studied at.

“I’ll never regret what I went through with my illness because it’s made me more resilient and I am most looking forward to helping others on their journey and making a difference to their lives.

“I can’t wait to get started.”