Physiotherapy Personal Statement

I relish the prospect of working with others, both as part of a team working towards a common goal, and also working face-to-face with individuals from all walks of life to provide them with assistance. Indeed, throughout my professional life to date what has motivated me most about the positions I have held has been the opportunities that they have offered me to help and offer assistance to people. In recent years my interest in helping people has evolved considerably; rather than a desire to make things better for people being just one aspect of my work, I would now like to place it at the centre of my professional life. I would like to make a more meaningful contribution to society by being able to help people suffering from pain. Having spent a significant period of time researching physiotherapy as a method of treatment and a profession, I believe that I am well-suited to a career as a physiotherapist. At school in Lithuania I was always strongly interested in both science and the way that the human body responds to physical exertion. Amongst the subjects that I studied to an advanced level were biology, chemistry and physical culture. I enjoyed learning about the links between these subjects, for example the biological explanations behind human fitness and injuries. Through studying physical culture I learnt about the ways in which people can maintain their physical health; this has always been an area that has been of interest to me, and I would enjoy the opportunity to also help others improve their physical health. I am therefore enthusiastic about the possibility of both learning more about the human body through studying physiotherapy and also having the chance to put this knowledge into practice through helping people who are suffering from injuries or other physical problems.

I have since learnt a lot more about treating injuries through my work experience. I have taken various first-aid training courses as part of my work. I found it very rewarding to be empowered with the skills that allow me to know how to react appropriately in an emergency situation in which someone has unexpectedly sustained an injury. Being equipped with these skills has served me well in my current position of Guest Service Manager at a large hotel. In the event of a guest suffering an accident, it is essential that I am able to both offer them reassurance and make sure that they receive the right emergency treatment until a health professional arrives.

The part-time jobs I held whilst at secondary school and the full-time positions that I have held since then have equipped me with a wide range of skills that I believe are highly relevant to being a practitioner of physiotherapy. The most important skills that I have acquired are an ability to communicate with a very wide range of people and an aptitude for working as part of a team. Moving from Lithuania to work in the United Kingdom was a life-changing experience for me, as it placed me in a range of jobs in which I was required to work with people from entirely different walks of life to my own, communicating with them in my third language. However, through working with others in factories, warehouses and hotels, my ability to communicate effectively and empathetically with co-workers has continually improved. Through these positions I have also learnt how to support my colleagues and encourage them, particularly in my current position of Guest Services Manager, in which I am required to oversee a team of staff. Through this position I have also developed an ethos of always demanding high standards of myself and my team, something that I believe is also essential for those who plan on working in a healthcare setting.

Overall, I am committed to qualifying as a physiotherapist so that I can place helping people at the centre of my career. In the future, I would like to work as a physiotherapist in a clinic, with a long-term goal of one day running my own physiotherapy practice.