1. The stories are told by real healthcare workers

What makes Our Voices different to most podcasts is that it really does provide a voice for those who are working on the frontline in healthcare.  We hear from ordinary doctors and nurses, such as Angel and Cynthia who talk about what it is like to dedicate their lives to helping others and how both their professional and personal lives have been made particularly challenging during the global pandemic.

2. It’s compelling

Although the podcast is focused on ordinary people, these people’s stories are never less than compelling.  What all of the episodes have in common is that they focus on the lives of individuals who have uprooted themselves, leaving their countries and much of their family behind in order to pursue a healthcare career in the UK.  We hear stories from people such as Hussian, who was born in Somalia, travelled through Subsaharan Africa and the Middle East and emigrated to Sweden before eventually coming to work in the UK.  The scenes he witnessed during his journey are fascinating to hear about and yet, until speaking on Our Voices, it was a story which had remained hidden from public view.

3. It’s relevant

The one issue that has become just as much a part of our daily experience as waking and going to bed is the challenge all countries are having to contend with due to the global pandemic.  Never before have we been so reliant on and so appreciative of our healthcare workers and so this seems a particularly relevant time to hear more about the people who perform such an important function.

4. It’s challenging

Our Voices does not hide away from the difficult issues that the people behind the episodes have faced.  From growing up during times of civil war, to dealing with depression, to having to contend with aggression and racism in the workplace, the stories in the podcast cover genuinely challenging issues that affect so many parts of society.

5. It’s inspiring

Our Voices is not a podcast which focuses not only on challenging experiences but each story includes an inspiring message.  Through adversity and struggle, each person ultimately tells a story of hope.  Hussain talks of the misery and suffering he witnessed as a child instilling him with the passion to “make a difference”.  Joan, an intensive care nurse, tells us how he learnt through experience that “the most powerful thing you can do in life is to make a difference to someone else”.  Angel tells us that, despite our current struggles, we can “never give up on kindness and goodness” and urges us to practise “balance, positivity and self-love”.  It would be absurd and dishonest to pretend that these are anything other than very difficult times, yet, through these stories, we can hear how ordinary people with extraordinary challenges have managed to find a way to hold on to hope.  It’s through their example that the rest of us might do the same.

If you’re a medical professional who is looking to work in the UK, and you need to pass either IELTS or OET, go to www.swooshenglish.com