Tracey Paradise, Residential Welfare Manager
Meet Tracey Paradise, Residential Welfare Manager. In this profile Tracey tells us about her 25 years at Queen Mary, her role in developing a programme of weekly drop-in sessions across our halls and how proud she is of Queen Mary’s achievements as a born and bred East Ender.
Congratulations on your 25 years at Queen Mary! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your time working at the University?
I manage the Residential Welfare team who provide support, welfare and wellbeing advice along with dealing with discipline in halls and complaints, amongst many other things for over 3000 students living in Queen Mary Halls across three campuses, postgraduates at Stratford in Aspire Point and those living in our partnership buildings with Unite. Although I started my career as a Catering Supervisor in 2000, after four years I moved to the accommodation office (now Housing Services). Following this, I became a Halls Manager before progressing to a Residential Support Officer, I then progressed to becoming a Senior Residential Support Officer when we gained a team member. My title changed to Residential Welfare Manager as my team expanded both in numbers and workload where we cover 24/7 - 365 days a year. I am pleased to say that I have forged effective working relationships with the wider support services over the years and the lines of communication and teamwork is certainly key to the level of service we offer our residents.
Describe your average day/week
I don’t think it’s possible to, we have never had an average week as no two days are ever the same. Generally, we meet with residents over a varying degree of issues: anything relating to a serious disclosure, to a mental health issue, to a resident wanting to raise an issue about a flatmate over noise, cleanliness etc. We are often contacted by parents, colleagues from ACS or a department to carry out a welfare check on a resident, which results in us going to check in on them. Our inbox always has a significant number of emails coming in requiring a response and follow up. We also conduct pre-arranged meetings with residents to offer support. To summarise the world of Residential Welfare is never quiet.
Are there any key projects you are currently working on that you’d like to highlight?
I finally have a full team as of May this year, which means we are able to develop a programme of weekly drop-in sessions across all of our halls to promote our service and give a visible presence allowing residents to meet us in an informal setting; this will no doubt increase our workload but ensures increasing support for our residents.
What do you see as your role in helping the University achieve its Strategy 2030?
It will always be about the Student Experience and how we can help enhance this to ensure retention and engagement.
What’s your favourite place on any of our campuses?
I don’t think I have one favourite place, as a born and bred East Ender who still lives locally, I am immensely proud of what Queen Mary has achieved here in the heart of the East End and often refer to Mile End as the Tardis and you don’t know what is hidden and how large campus is behind any of our gates.
Do you have any hobbies, pastimes outside of work?
I have two beautiful grandchildren, aged 11 and five plus three dogs and a baby budgie, so I don’t really have much time for anything else. If ever I can find time, my husband and I would love to rekindle our love of travel which we have not had time for in a long while. My manager describes me as a rock not only to the team at Queen Mary but to my family, this is a term that I value. When I refer to family it’s not only my personal family, but also my Queen Mary family.