From Full-Time Mum to Future Health Leader

26 June 2025

After years of putting her family first, Jamilla Robinson decided it was time to chase a dream she had put on hold, not just for herself, but as a powerful example for her children. Today as she graduates with a master’s in public health from UWTSD Birmingham, Jamilla’s story is one of extraordinary resilience, personal transformation, and unwavering determination.

For Jamilla, like many mothers, the demands of raising a family once pushed her own ambitions to the background.

“I never really thought about attending university after I left college because I started working straight away and then I started my family,” she reflects. “But recently, since my children are older, I’ve wanted to do something for myself. I wanted to prove to myself that I could go to university… that I was not just a mum.”

In 2020, Jamilla enrolled on the BSc Health and Social Care programme BSc Health and Social Care programme at UWTSD with the goal of building a career in the mental health sector. However, her journey was soon complicated by a difficult diagnosis: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

“I was diagnosed just before starting Level 5,” Jamilla explains. “COPD makes you very unwell at times, and I was self-conscious about my coughing. I didn’t think I’d be able to continue.”

But she did, thanks in part to her own tenacity, and to the unwavering support from the university’s disability and academic teams.

“It’s still a struggle some days,” she says, “but it’s such a relief knowing I have help and support. That’s what’s allowed me to keep going.”

Despite her health challenges, Jamilla discovered a passion for learning, particularly in modules that linked directly to her own experiences like Physiology and Community Care & Management of Long-Term Conditions. The relevance of her studies to her daily life gave her both academic strength and personal healing.

“I applied what I was learning to my own life and my family’s and that connection made my learning so meaningful.”

Her academic success has already had ripple effects. Jamilla became the first in her family to attend university, and her son has since followed her example. She’s also rediscovered her own self-belief.

“The course brought out my confidence. I didn’t think I had a professional future, but now I know I do. I am capable.”

Jamilla is now preparing to enter the workforce in the very sector that inspired her journey.

“My condition still has its tough days,” she says. “But I’m a determined individual. My studies are important to me, and with the support of my children and UWTSD, I’m pushing through. I want to make my children proud and help improve as many lives as I can.”

Jamilla wants to encourage others to take the leap she once thought was out of reach:

“I’d recommend this course to anyone with a passion for learning and caring. I never thought I could go this far, but here I am, and I’ve completed my master’s. The person I was at Level 4 is not the person I am today. This experience has changed my life.”