My journey into health visiting
By Kailey Sparks, Education Lead for Health Visiting

As we open student recruitment for specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN), I couldn't help but reflect on my own path to becoming a health visitor.

Before health visiting, I was a case-loading midwife at Kings College Hospital. I loved working closely with families, especially those who planned home births or mothers with mental health conditions, but I always found the discharge at 28 days bittersweet. Let's be honest, 28 days is barely a scratch on the surface of parenthood and I would feel that I was missing out on the most rewarding part of their journey.

That's when I discovered health visiting. It offered me the chance to work with families for longer stretches, and as soon as I started training, I knew I was hooked. The diversity of families I encountered – each with unique strengths and needs – was amazing.

More importantly, I felt like I was truly making a positive impact on children's lives. I loved connecting them to community resources that supported their whole family's wellbeing and giving them the advice and guidance they needed.

A story of growth

One memory that always sticks with me is a young mum I worked with alongside social services. She was isolated, had postnatal depression, and was unsure of her parenting skills. We started with a holistic assessment, which helped us identify her own set of goals. I connected her with perinatal mental health services, encouraged her to engage with children's centres where she met other mums facing similar circumstances. I advised her about feeding, baby care and developmental activities. Seeing her confidence bloom and her bond with her baby strengthen over the weeks and months was incredibly rewarding.

Building on a strong foundation

My experience as a midwife gave me a solid foundation of knowledge in pregnancy, early infant health and building rapport with clients. I could perform physical assessments and offer health promotion advice. But health visiting training opened my eyes to the nuances of communication.

It taught me the importance of empowering families to identify their own goals and develop strategies to achieve them. It also emphasised how early experiences profoundly impact our own long-term health and now, I feel privileged to play a role in helping families give their children the best possible start in life.

A day in the life of a health visitor

No two days are alike as a health visitor. I could be at a child health clinic; think 'Call the Midwife' giving parents and carers the opportunity to attend for advice, ask health or development questions or weigh and measure their child.

Or I could be conducting one of the five mandated health and wellbeing reviews. These reviews involve thorough assessments to identify areas where families need additional support. We might offer services directly, connect them with specialists, or provide health information relevant to their child's stage of development.

We support breastfeeding, offer healthy eating advice for growing children, and conduct both routine and targeted development reviews to identify if a child needs additional support or referrals to more specialist services. We know early identification and intervention is vital for children with additional needs.

We also work with social services to protect vulnerable children, following local safeguarding procedures and prioritising the voice of the child.

This is just a snippet of what we do as health visitors.

Inspired to join us?

If this glimpse into health visiting inspires anyone to consider a change in career, the links and information below may be the start of your own health visiting story:

• KCHFT Student SCPHN application information
• join our SCPHN recruitment webinar at 6.30 to 8pm on Tuesday, 18 June. Join the meeting.
• top tips for a successful SCPHN application
• take a look at the south east clinical delivery and networks website which has information about health visiting and how to get into health visiting
• View the NMC Standards for proficiency for SCPH