Jennie Clark
Jennie Clark BSc, MSc
Programme Support Tutor
My profile
Biography
My career journey spans through various roles, primarily focusing on education, support, and nurturing individuals within different settings. I began as a Nursery Nurse and Key Worker in early years settings; I planned activities, led teaching sessions, and ensured children’s welfare. This role evolved into supporting young people with additional needs in specialised provisions, promoting independence and providing tailored care. It further developed into supporting adults in specialist provisions, including an acquired brain injury unit and a learning disability and autism charity.
Moving my career into higher education, I assumed the Programme Support Tutor role here at Man Met. My main responsibility is to enhance student progression and success through academic support and personalised guidance. I am also passionate about advocating for student wellbeing and fostering a supportive environment, particularly for our diverse international student community. Previous experiences have equipped me with skills to support individuals with disabilities in the workplace, conducting assessments and delivering assistive technology training. These competencies seamlessly apply to my current role.
My journey also includes supporting primary school education as a Teaching Assistant, where I facilitated inclusive learning environments, supported the overall running of the classrooms, and delivered tailored interventions. I’ve worked in various customer service and managerial roles, from supervising a small team of staff in a restaurant, managing a team of customer accounts agents at a large subprime lender company. I coordinated residential support for students in other university, ensuring students received empathetic guidance and access to university services.
Throughout my career, I’ve upheld a commitment to promoting inclusivity, fostering growth, and ensuring the wellbeing of individuals in diverse settings, whether in education, healthcare, or hospitality.
Teaching
What do I teach?
- I am a module leader and tutor for the L3 Psychology for Life module
- I teach on the L4 Transitions into Psychology module
- I teach on the L4 Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology module
Research outputs
Young people’s engagement with climate change issues through digital media - a content analysis
Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health February 1, 2022
Background
The reporting of climate change issues through social media can influence young people’s mental health and engagement. However, there has been little research undertaken directly with young people in relation to social and digital media’s reporting of climate change, and how this is experienced.
Method
This study aimed to explore the interface between climate change and social media reporting for young people. A two-stage iterative approach to recruitment and data collection included an initial qualitative stage (N = 28), consisting of open-ended questions about social media’s reporting of climate change issues. The second stage (N = 23) included further open-ended questions and 10 Likert-Scale questions. Overall, 51 young people 16–25-years-old opted to take part (M = 11; F = 40). Descriptive statistics and an inductive data-driven content analysis are reported.
Results
Overall, 95% of the participants reported that they had the personal skills to cope with climate change reporting on social media. Most participants stated that coverage on the climate increased ‘climate change anxiety’ but not their overall mental health difficulties. A four-stage experiential process of observing social media’s reporting of climate change, feeling emotionally affected by the reporting, critically apprising the content and feeling motivated to engage in climate change activism emerged from the content analysis. The participants discussed experiences of digital media, rather than solely social media, in their accounts.
Conclusions
The participants recommended changes to climate change reporting and increasing access to education about climate change issues to reduce anxiety and enhance motivation for positive personal engagement. Involving young people in conversations and education about climate change were seen as protective factors for mental health and enablers for motivation. Motivation, agency and pathways for positive change were associated with hopefulness.