Jorge-Ann on pathway to become a doctor after homeless struggles and living with rare liver disease

Jorge-Ann, 25, returned to York College last summer as an Access to Higher Education student in Humanities & Social Sciences, having previously dropped out of her A Level studies at Sim Balk Lane eight years earlier due to mental health issues.

Since then, she has had to contend with a period of homelessness, along with the challenges presented living with a rare liver disease that saw her require life-saving surgery when she was only 15 days old.

The turning point in Jorge-Ann’s life, though, came in 2019 when she met her husband Anthony, with the couple going on to have two children Maia, who is now five, and two-year-old Milo.

Balancing a return to education with the raising of a family obviously carries its own trials and tribulations and, tragically, Jorge-Ann and the rest of her cohort also had to somehow cope with the unexpected and sudden death of a much-loved classmate during the course.  

At the time, Jorge-Ann questioned whether she wanted to continue with her studies but, once more, her resilience came to the fore and she is now starting a Psychology degree at York St John University this month, where she intends to progress on to a Doctorate with the view to maybe working in New Zealand one day!

On what that prospect means to her, Jorge-Ann declared: “I’m so excited that I’m going to be studying Psychology at a high level because I find learning about the brain and why people behave the way they do so interesting. I’m even looking forward to it validating some of the things that I think!

“Psychology has always been my favourite subject. It was the one I was most interested in by a mile when I was younger and I’m also looking forward to what will come after the three-year course. 

“As long as I get a First or a 2:1, you can go straight on to doing a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at York St John. I’ve always wanted a career where I’m in a position to help people and I want to give my children opportunities that I didn’t have growing up.

“That might be hard as a student, but it might not be so hard if I become a doctor! I also know Psychologist is on New Zealand’s Green List of occupations where they need skilled people from overseas, so I might even fulfil my ambition of moving halfway around the world, if I can convince my husband!”

Such aspirations demonstrate the remarkable progress Jorge-Ann has made when, after achieving excellent GCSE grades, issues outside of education caused her to cut short her Psychology, Maths, Film Studies and Drama & Theatre A Level studies, having already switched from York College after attempting more science-based subjects during her AS Level year at another college in Leeds. 

“I didn’t have an easy childhood,” Jorge-Ann explained. “I had a lot of mental health issues and it was just the wrong time for me to be doing my A Levels at that point.

“I couldn’t focus. I wanted to achieve and I was very capable academically, but I also felt there was a lot of pressure on me to do well.

“I was going through a hard time and education was the last thing on my mind. I eventually became homeless as well. 

“I only had a couple of nights on the streets but, for around nine or so months, I would be staying at friends’ homes or my friends’ families.”

Having left College, Jorge-Ann got a job at McDonald’s and had a spell as a care worker, before becoming a bartender at the same pub for four-and-a-half years, which she combined with her duties as a doting mother to Maia and Milo. 

After giving birth to Maia, meanwhile, Jorge-Ann also became seriously ill due to her Biliary Atresia liver condition.

On that experience and the impact it has had on her life and will continue to have in the future, she said: “It’s an incurable and degenerative disease and 80 per cent of people who have it require transplants before the age of 20. I haven’t needed one yet but will do eventually.

“I wasn’t looking too good after I had my daughter and needed a big operation. Then, I had to have drains for three months and another operation to remove lots of stones because, for two years, I found I was getting sepsis infections every few months.

“There are so many medications I can’t take because of the condition. I’ve struggled with insomnia throughout my life but can’t take sleeping tablets and I can’t eat a lot of red meat either, because my liver struggles to process it.

“I didn’t have many issues with it throughout my nine months at College but am expecting it to flare up again at some point when I’m at university.”

Such health scares might have been enough to put most people off a return to education, while bringing up two children, but Jorge-Ann had already previously considered enrolling on the Access to Higher Education in Health Science Professions course with the view to pursuing a midwifery career.

There were other reasons, meanwhile, that were inhibiting her from resuming a Level 3 study pathway. 

“The problem I had was I was so afraid of education,” she confessed. “I’d also been bullied at school, so I was a bit fearful of the environment, but I thought I’m older, more mature now and won’t take things to heart.

“I’d been through so many things and just felt, ‘I can do this’. I didn’t really have any negative experiences of York College that first time around either. 

“The college wasn’t why I dropped out. I thought the facilities were really good and they still are now. 

“I actually loved the environment and found it very relaxed but, back then, it had just been the right place for me at the wrong time. At the point I decided to come back, I felt like I didn’t have much purpose and, whilst I love being a mother – I really do – I didn’t really have many prospects career wise, working as a bartender. 

“I knew I wanted to study Psychology and perhaps become a therapist. College didn’t do the subject as an option on an Access course, but I was told that I could do Humanities and Social Sciences and that could lead to the chance to do Psychology at York St John so, instead, I did Sociology on the Access course, as I thought that was the nearest course to Psychology, as well as English Literature and Short Stories.”

Jorge-Ann’s nerves at returning to education dissipated as she forged strong bonds with fellow students – one of whom is joining her on the course at York St John.

“I have made friendships for life on the course,” Jorge-Ann declared. “We’ve been meeting up over the summer and one of my classmates Athena is going to be doing the exact same course as me at St John’s, so we’ll be together for the next three years as well. 

“When I was younger, I didn’t think university would be for me as I was worried about fitting into a new group but, being with Athena, will remove a lot of that fear.” 

Jorge-Ann’s confidence on Campus was demonstrated by her taking on the responsibility of becoming the Student Champion for Adult courses at College.

The role included feeding back any concerns and issues that Adult learners might want raising with members of College’s Strategic Leadership Team and further cemented Jorge-Ann’s feeling that all staff at Sim Balk Lane are ready to listen to students in a respectful and approachable manner.

“The friendships I have built with my tutors were incredible,” she pointed out. (Sociology tutor) Dan (Nelson) and (English Literature tutor) Alison (Willis) are amazing people, who are so easy to get along with.

“You can speak to them on a basic human level and they were both so supportive and very uplifting. I really don’t think I could have done it all without Alison. 

“If we were feeling down or low, she lifted us up. I have friends who did other subjects on the course who said that their tutors were incredible, too.”

The importance of such support was illustrated during the most tragic of circumstances in April when the class learned that a member of their close-knit group had passed away.

“We were all very close and it was really hard when we lost him,” Jorge-Ann said. “He was the first person I spoke to on my Induction Day and made me feel so comfortable, which meant a lot to me. 

“We weren’t even sure whether we could finish the course, but the Wellbeing Team and tutors were so good at helping us. They gave us extensions to deadlines, no questions asked, and they showed their complete and utter understanding.

“We missed a day at College when we drove down for the funeral in Bristol and the teachers even messaged us to check that we were OK and had got back safely.”

Adding such emotional trauma to striking a balance between her studies and a demanding life outside of College which, along with raising her two children, included volunteering for the Home-Start York charity one day a week and working part-time at weekends, clearly resulted in significant challenges.

Jorge-Ann is hoping, though, that her successful outcome on the Access course can persuade anybody who might be hesitating to follow her example to take the plunge. 

“It was really tough and I won’t sugarcoat that, but I cracked on with my work in the evenings and, at lunchtime in College, we’d get together as a group and look at each other’s work to help each other out, as we were all focussed and wanted the same things from the course,” she pointed out. 

“We were given a couple of extensions because the tutors understood, as older students, there were other things going on in our lives, but I was also organised, on top of things as much as I could be and even handed quite a few essays in early to get them out of the way. So, it was hard, but very much possible.”

To learn more about our Access to Higher Education Diploma in Humanities & Social Sciences, please click here

If you would like to meet our expert team of tutors, discuss any of our courses with them and view our facilities, then please consider our next Open Event on Tuesday 7th October (5.30pm-8pm). Register a place here