Meet the team - Tom

At end of June, 2024, after completing a year-long placement with the Salford Royal neuropsychology team, I began work as a Research & Marketing intern at Decently.

Over the course of my year-long placement with Salford, I had the opportunity to work closely with the Decently team, as they trialled Melo on the ward I worked on at the hospital.

Toward the end of the year the founders of Decently, James Chapman and James Burch, offered me the opportunity to continue my work with them as their intern for the summer.

One of the great things about interning with Decently is the variation in work I got to be involved in. Since each member of the team has a defined role, I was able to support each of them with different tasks, which was paramount in getting a better idea of the sort of work each of them do.

However, a typical day for me would involve stand-ups (daily catchups), product testing, and market research, as well as speaking to a number of clinicians from around the UK, allowing us to gather clinical user feedback into Melo.

This has given me the opportunity to build on my knowledge of managing challenging patient behaviours, while also learning entirely new research and marketing skills. For a start, the problems I encountered as an intern were far from the ones I dealt with while in neuropsychology. I learnt to adapt the skills I developed through university and my hospital placement, and apply them to product and marketing based problems - an enjoyable challenge for me. Product research and competitor analysis are just some of the areas I have had the privilege of being introduced to. As well as this, playing a part in an organisation, and its product, that has digital innovation at its heart, is something that is truly special.

Working with Decently, particularly after coming from the ‘clinical’ side at Salford, has allowed me to see how Melo is made possible behind the scenes. It’s given me a completely fresh perspective on Melo, how it operates, and has really emphasised to me what Melo stands for. I was a big believer in the utility of Melo when I was on the wards, and to be given the opportunity to support Melo in more ways than one remains a great feeling for me.

If someone was considering working with Decently, I would say, ‘absolutely do it’. The work they are doing is innovative, creative, and altruistic. I’ve always said to myself that I want helping others to be at the forefront of the work I do. I think this is why I took a placement in healthcare. But it’s safe to say that the work Decently are doing, and being part of that, is fulfilling that value above and beyond what I expected.

While it is amazing to be able to talk about all the things I have learnt, my experience would be nothing without any of the people at Decently to learn from. The team have been nothing more than supportive and amazing, and I want to thank them all for the opportunities they have given me this summer, and for playing such a pivotal role in shaping my year-long placement into the unforgettable experience it was.

Thank you Charlie, JC, JB, Brandan, Prem, Ross and JA.