I am currently looking at switching careers into the conservation sector and have a particular interest in habitat restoration and species management. Although I have not worked in the sector in an official capacity I am currently expanding my skillset and knowledge through various volunteering opportunities and via online courses, in particular the national geographic exploring conservation course. I am currently a volunteer ranger with the Lancashire Wildlife trust at Brockholes nature reserve; my responsibilities including visitor engagement, visitor management, site maintenance and infrastructure checks. I also volunteer with PTES completing wildlife surveys, currently I am working across 3 sites in Lancashire carrying out surveys for the endangered water vole as well as the American mink and otters. I also volunteer when available at various projects around the Greater Manchester and Lancashire area which have included Peatland restoration and habitat management tasks. I currently work as a community occupational therapy assistant in which I manage my own caseload and visit vulnerable members of the community providing advice and various aids to help people maintain their independence with managing daily living tasks. I work in a very diverse locality and interact with people from all different backgrounds so taking a holistic approach to the individual is common practice. A large part of my role is based around problem solving and managing risk, each case has its own unique factors which need to be considered in order to provide appropriate and effective intervention. I enjoy the role due to how varied each day and each case is as well as having the opportunity to work face to face with people whom I may not otherwise have the chance to interact with, I also enjoy the freedom and responsibility of managing my own caseload. The majority of my experience however is in the education sector, I trained as a primary school teacher in university in which I undertook multiple placements within schools taking on progressively more responsibility as the class teacher until my final year where I took between 80-100% of the teaching responsibility of the class. I have also worked full time as a teaching assistant and have experience teaching children between the ages of 3-11 in groups ranging from one to one interventions to classes of over 55 children in a variety of setting including the classroom, the community and in outdoor forest schools.