My name is Emma. I am a third-year Social Work student here at RGU, and I am care-experienced. Those two parts of my identity do not compete with one another; they sit side by side. One shaped my past, the other shapes my future.
When conversations turn to care-experienced people and education, they often begin with a narrative of disadvantage. Rarely do they begin with possibility. I have lived both sides of that story. I have felt the quiet weight of assumptions, the lowered expectations, the sympathetic glances. But I have also experienced the transformative power of opportunity when someone choses to see your potential instead of your past.
Navigating University Without a Traditional Support System
There were times when university felt unfamiliar. Walking into lectures, contributing to academic discussions, imagining a professional future. These were spaces I had not always believed were meant for someone like me.
Without a traditional support system behind me, navigating higher education felt daunting. There is no handbook for balancing assignments with healing, or for learning to trust stability when much of your life has been defined by uncertainty.
The Impact of the Ardmuir Scholarship
One of the greatest differences in my journey has been the Ardmuir Scholarship offered by RGU. For a care experienced person, stable accommodation is not just about having a roof over your head. It is about safety, predictability, and the mental space to focus.
When you are not worrying about where you will sleep, whether you will have to move again, or whether support will suddenly disappear, you can begin to think long-term. You can plan. You can breathe.
Secure housing through this scholarship gave me the foundation to engage fully in my studies and to believe that stability was not temporary, but something I was allowed to keep.
Support and Belonging at RGU
Support at RGU has not simply been academic, it has been human. Through understanding lecturers, meaningful guidance, and spaces where my voice has been welcomed and valued.
I have been able not only to remain enrolled, but to grow. That support did more than sustain me, it strengthened my belonging. It helped me believe that I deserve to be in these spaces.
Why Social Work Became My Path
Choosing a career in social work felt both natural and deeply personal. My experiences of care showed me the power that professionals hold. The power to make a child feel safe, heard, and valued, or the opposite.
I saw firsthand how systems can either uplift or overlook. Over time, I realised I did not just want to understand those systems, I wanted to be part of shaping them.
Social work allows me to transform lived experience into informed practice. It gives me the opportunity to advocate, to challenge inequality, and to ensure that children and families feel seen rather than processes.
My journey into this profession is not about “giving back” in simplistic sense, it is about using insight to influence practice with empathy, accountability, and purpose.
Using My Voice Beyond the Classroom
My identity as a care experienced young person has not only shaped my experience as a student, but it has also shaped my voice beyond the classroom.
Through work with Who Cares? Scotland, I have contributed to shaping the vision of The Promise (Scotland’s commitment to ensuring that care-experienced children and young people grow up loved, safe, and respected). Being involved in that process showed me that lived experience is not just valid, it is vital. Policies are stronger when they are informed by the voices of those who have lived them.
I have had the opportunity to speak publicly about care experience, through radio interviews and sharing my story in Scottish Parliament. Standing in those spaces, once unimaginable to me, I realised something powerful. The very experiences that once made me feel different had become the reason I was being invited into rooms of influence.
My voice, shaped by care, carried weight. Not because of adversity alone, but because of insight.
Continuing the Journey and Speaking to Others Like Me
By no means do I have my life all figured out, and that’s okay. I’m still learning how to be kind to myself and how to heal from the things I’ve been through. I believe that journey will be lifelong, and I’ve made peace with that. But if sharing my story helps even one person believe, just a little more, that they can build a better future for themselves, then I’ve done all I hoped to do.
You are not what happened to you, but you are what you choose next.
Trauma may have shaped the road you’ve walked, but it doesn’t have to decide where you end up. If you’re reading this and wondering if you are capable of more, please know that you are. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Chase that dream, even if it feels scary. Take the leap. Life has a way of unfolding in ways we don’t expect.
Emma Marshall
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