Building the confidence for a career in criminal justice and rehabilitation

Graduating from Southampton Solent University with a BA (Hons) in Criminology and Psychology, Venezia Agatone has a clear vision for her future, and has already taken a major step towards it, starting a role as a Refuge Worker with Stop Domestic Abuse, supporting victims of domestic abuse.

That vision has been shaped by real experience, gained throughout her time at Solent. As part of her course, a dedicated careers module required students to secure work experience relevant to their studies and reflect on it in an assessed essay. "It kind of got me looking at jobs that I want to do in the future," Venezia says.

For Venezia, that meant volunteering with No Limits, a mental health charity in Southampton, and with Minstead Trust, where she works with adults with learning disabilities, putting the skills and knowledge from her course into practice.

“I'm using the communication skills I've built up at Solent and my understanding from the course, like how learning disabilities might affect someone."

Alongside her studies, Venezia has worked as a Solent student ambassador, a role she credits with transforming her confidence.

"I never really wanted to do that, I'm not going to lie, but I did it, and now I've been taking groups around the university, something I never thought I'd be able to do. It's massively grown my confidence, and just talking to people in general, putting myself out there. I went and did it anyway, and I actually quite enjoy it now."

That confidence, paired with the knowledge she’s developed through the course, has prepared Venezia to walk straight into the sector she wants to work in.

"I did criminology and psychology both at A levels, and they were kind of my favourite courses that I did. I knew I wanted to do something in the criminal justice sector or helping with rehabilitation. I wanted to take it a bit further and do the joint course, so I get a bit of both."

The course also gave her hands on experience of the kind of practical, applied work she can go on to do, including sessions on footprint analysis, fingerprinting and crime scene investigation. "That was the more interactive side of the criminology module. I really enjoyed it. It was quite fun."

Graduating with a first-class degree and her ambassador role behind her, Venezia is now working as a Refuge Worker with Stop Domestic Abuse, a role that builds directly on the skills and passion she developed at Solent.