{"id":224659,"date":"2025-10-25T12:23:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T12:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/224659\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T12:23:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T12:23:23","slug":"cafe-worker-with-childhood-fear-of-hospitals-has-a-surprising-new-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/224659\/","title":{"rendered":"Cafe worker with childhood fear of hospitals has a surprising new job"},"content":{"rendered":"

A coffee shop worker called ‘Hope’ who was terrified of hospitals<\/a> after watching her mum fight for life as a child is now helping others overcome medical fears – as a qualified midwife<\/a>. Hope Jezzard, 39, was deeply traumatised by spending much of her childhood visiting her mum in hospital as she battled Crohn\u2019s Disease<\/a> on life support, nearly dying twice.<\/p>\n

But despite her years of fears, Hope was inspired to tackle them head on by the midwives<\/a> who supported her through the birth of her two children. Now she has bravely followed in their footsteps by switching careers from working in a coffee<\/a> shop to a Midwifery degree<\/a> at Coventry University – starting her first NHS<\/a> midwife job in November.<\/p>\n

Hope, from Southam, Warwickshire, explained: “I grew up learning very early on that people are fragile.<\/p>\n

“My mum was often in hospital, wired up to machines. She nearly died twice and was put on life support.<\/p>\n

“I had to leave her behind and although I knew she was being helped, it felt like I was being separated from her. That shaped my fear of clinical environments.<\/p>\n

“Now I want to help people who are frightened or vulnerable. In some way, I hope it has an impact on my mum, who\u2019s still very scared of hospitals.”<\/p>\n

Hope had long been interested in biology, feminism and women\u2019s health but fear initially held her back from looking into a career in healthcare.<\/p>\n

During her second pregnancy, her sister encouraged her to enrol on an access course. She studied at night while her children slept and retook maths to meet entry requirements.<\/p>\n

Her first placement at South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust was a turning point and she\u2019ll begin her first role as a qualified midwife there in November.<\/p>\n

She added: “Going into a hospital was a massive challenge. I had avoided clinical settings for years.<\/p>\n

“The first few shifts were terrifying. I didn\u2019t understand the medical terms and felt out of my depth. But over time, I became more comfortable.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s no epiphany moment, it happens organically. I had support from the university, staff and my fellow students, and I can look back now and see how much I\u2019ve grown.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m happy to be going straight into the workforce, and feel lucky to be starting my career at the place where I trained. I\u2019m also thankful for my family as I would not be in this position without their ongoing support.”<\/p>\n

Hope believes her experience in customer-facing roles – from pubs and estate agencies to running an independent shop – has helped her connect with patients.<\/p>\n

She went on: “My interpersonal skills, compassion and empathy were driving forces behind my desire to pursue a vocation where I could support, help and empower others.”<\/p>\n

And she’s proud of how far she\u2019s come, remarking: “I doubted my ability and courage to start but I\u2019ve faced my fear and done it anyway.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m stronger than I thought I was. I can reflect now on how much I have learned, and I remain determined to become a compassionate and knowledgeable midwife.<\/p>\n

“The course has tested my resolve and is challenging, whether you have children or not, but I\u2019m glad I decided to start this journey.”<\/p>\n

Her message to others considering a career change is simple. She concluded: “Believe in yourself. Start the process and say it out loud, it makes it real and holds you accountable.<\/p>\n

“You are capable of more than you think.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coffee shop worker called ‘Hope’ who was terrified of hospitals after watching her mum fight for life…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[57589,23046,66478,26846,102,2960,95831,2248,6282,95832,104,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-224659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-call-the-midwife","9":"tag-career-change","10":"tag-childhood-trauma","11":"tag-childrens-mental-health","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-hope-jezzard","15":"tag-hospital","16":"tag-job-market","17":"tag-midwifery","18":"tag-nhs","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}