Congratulations Tracy
Tracy overcomes adversity to achieve Level 5 qualification 16-11-2023
Tracy Ellson is no stranger to adversity. The Customer Services Manager for AVK UK fought back from significant health issues over the last six years to continue her career progression with three promotions and a Level 5 qualification in Operational and Departmental Management.
Tracy first started at AVK UK in 2003, as a customer service coordinator. Coming from a financial services background, the water and gas industries were new to her, but within six months she started working on some of the company’s larger customer accounts.
After three-and-a-half years, she returned to financial services, joining a family-run mortgage service provider, before the 2008 credit crunch sent shockwaves through the industry. A three-month temporary role opened up at AVK UK and Tracy jumped at the opportunity to return. Shortly before she was due to start back, however, she was offered a permanent role, and she re-joined as a Customer Service Coordinator again.
Illness Strikes
Over the following few years, she progressed to Project Coordinator and then, in 2017, she was struck with a rare illness.
“I started getting head pains shortly before then, around September 2016 – I wouldn’t really call them headaches – they were crippling pains at the back of my head. They started to get a lot worse, so I contacted the GP and they referred me to the hospital to get an MRI scan. That’s when I was diagnosed with Chiari malformation. This is a rare condition where the lower part of the brain pushes through an opening in the base of the skull causing pressure on the spinal cord. If not treated it could lead to paralysis.
“In May 2017 I went for an operation, where they removed part of my skull and top vertebrae. Everything went OK but, while in recovery, I ended up having a spinal fluid leak and went back into hospital. They took a patch of muscle from my thigh and put it into the back of my head and, while there, it was discovered I had hydrocephalus, which is a build-up of fluid around the brain, which was causing pressure build up. I had to have a shunt fitted and a valve that’s attached to the side of my skull. It has a thin tube that runs under my skin to my abdomen, this is where the spinal fluid drains. The shunt will be there for life and will control the pressure of fluid around my brain. It’s a very rare condition.
Assistance Dog Sam
“I’ve also been hard of hearing my whole life, which they think may have been caused by the Chiari malformation. Fifteen years ago, as my hearing got worse, I started wearing hearing aids. I found this challenging not just from getting used to wearing them, but I felt embarrassed being a younger person having to wear hearing aids. I was introduced to various support groups to help overcome this, one being Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. I saw what fantastic work the charity did and how the dogs are trained to alert their owners to many different sounds. I applied for a partnership and, not long after, I was introduced to Sam, a cheeky cockerpoo who is now my assistance dog. Sam has been with me for the last seven years. He alerts me to the door, timers, and smoke alarm, this is especially important when I am home and tend to take my hearing aids out as they can be uncomfortable when wearing them all day.
“Initially I thought I would be back to work within six to eight weeks but obviously that didn’t happen. I ended up on long term sick leave for six-and-a-half months. This was very stressful and frustrating.
“AVK were fantastic throughout and very supportive. When I was ready, they brought me back in a phased return. Not long after that my team leader left the company and I went for the role and was successful. To go from over six months off work to returning and then being promoted was amazing and really helped boost my confidence at the time. From there I decided I wanted to do a qualification in leadership and was introduced to Chesterfield College by HR.”
Back to Education
Over 2018/19 Tracy completed a Level 3 qualification in Team Leadership and Management, having had to resit GCSE Maths to get the requisite minimum C grade. The qualification helped her gain a promotion to Project Team Leader, before the role of Customer Service Manager came up in Northampton, which she successfully applied for. Since then, Tracy went on to complete a Level 5 qualification in Operational and Departmental Management, gaining a Distinction for her hard work, and graduated in October 2023.
“Going back to education was the best thing I ever did,” added Tracy. “It has helped my confidence so much as well as enhanced my skills and experience.
“We covered a lot of theory work as well as practical elements, looking at areas such as emotional intelligence, behaviours and managing different personalities in the team, as well as learning to adapt to new working conditions as we were going through the Covid lockdowns at the time. One of the changes was introducing Teams, which I have actively promoted in the team as it helps build relationships with the clients, more so than a phone call, as you can see each other at the end of the line. We had challenges within the team around then as well and the course gave me skills that I could apply to certain situations. It added to my experience and career development.
“I would definitely recommend it. Working full time and completing a course like this can seem daunting but I would say if you want to do it find a way as it’s definitely worth it.”
