Louise Worrall: Resilience, discipline, and adaptability

Louise Worrall, financial advisor and former lieutenant in the British Royal Navy, joins Reed Smith’s senior global DEI advisor, Iveliz Crespo and trainee solicitor Voirrey Blount to discuss how her military experience and diagnosis of a rare connective tissue disorder helped shape her outlook and approach to her life and career in finance.

Transcript:

Intro: Hi, I'm John Iino and I'm Iveliz Crespo. Welcome to the Reed Smith podcast Inclusivity Included: Powerful Personal Stories. In each episode of this podcast, our guests will share their personal stories, passions and challenges, past and present, all with the goal of bringing people together and learning more about others. You might be surprised by what we all have in common, inclusivity included.

Iveliz: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Inclusivity Included. I am your podcast host Iveliz Crespo and today I'm joined by a guest co-host Voirrey Blount. Voirrey is a trainee solicitor in Reed Smith’s London office and also an active member of RS Vets, our employee resource group focusing on veterans, their families and allies. Voirrey, thank you so much for joining the podcast today.

Voirrey: Thank you for having me as your co-host Iveliz. I'm really privileged to be here for taking something so important. I am honored to introduce our guest today who is a very close friend of mine since I was 18. So I won't want to say exactly how long that is. Um We were in the Royal Naval Reserves together when we were at University. Louise Worrall, who is joining us today, then went on to join the Royal Navy as a navigation officer where she excelled at all the different parts of her training and receiving her commission in 2012 and became a fully fledged lieutenant in the Royal Navy. And I'm now going to pass over to Louise who is going to tell us a bit more about her story in the military.

Louise: Hello, thank you so much for having me here today. I'm delighted to be able to join you both. I joined the Royal Navy in 2011, and as Voirrey mentioned, commissioned in 2012. I'm not gonna lie, it was a childhood dream of mine. When I was four years old, I went to sea and decided at that point that when I grew up, I was going to be a sailor. When I was seven, I was taken to Navy Days, went on a big gray ship and decided when I grow up, I'm not gonna be any sailor. I'm going to be a Royal Navy sailor and for myself personally, navigation was always the area that I was most interested in, a bit of a geek that way I suppose. I joined as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy and I worked exceedingly hard to become a first job navigator. I passed my exams and I took on my navigation department on a mine hunter.

Unfortunately, throughout my training, I've been plagued by small little joint injuries which I'd never really connected together. I'd recovered from them and just kept on going. I had issues with my knees, my hips, my wrists and things were starting to get a bit worse. I was at sea quite a lot of the time and my health just kept declining and I didn't know why. Eventually it got quite significantly bad to the point whereby the captain pulled me to one side and told me that I was being flown off the ship and I needed to get further medical intervention due to the reduction in my mobility, my inability to stand. For two more years, I stayed in the Royal Navy going through the rehabilitation centers, ultimately going to defense medical rehabilitation center, Headley Court.

At none of these times, we were able to diagnose what the issue was, but I continued to lose mobility until I ended up on crutches. For some strange reason, the Royal Navy don't really like you going to sea on crutches. And for that reason, in 2017, I was medically discharged from the Royal Navy, age 27. Quite clearly that broke my heart. I didn't really know where to go from there. And it was two years after that, that I was diagnosed with a rare connective tissue disorder. Unfortunately, it is genetic and with the damage that I had incurred in service, I will likely never recover from my injuries. So I had to get used to life having become disabled once I was older.

Iveliz: Now, Louise, thank you so much for sharing that story. I, I can imagine that as someone who dreamed of something since they were four years old, how heartbreaking that must have been to have to give that up because of something completely out of your control. And I think anyone irrespective of their training, um their discipline, would find a hard time navigating with that. I know that you've mentioned, to Voirrey at least, how being in the military unexpectedly, right, helped you cope with this unexpected diagnosis. Could you talk a little bit about that? What about your training really helped you kind of navigate this new life?

Louise: I think there are a lot of elements of life in the military that do help you to prepare for unexpected life events. I learnt resilience throughout my time in the military. And I think that has been key to being able to just keep getting up every day facing a world that I could never have imagined before and getting on with things. Additionally, the ability to adapt to change. Traditionally, you would see the Royal Navy as based in what tradition and we have processes, we have very set ways of doing things. However, we also have to be able to adapt change as it happens as in any of the branches of the military. And I think in a way this ability to adapt to changing circumstances quickly and to make the best of those circumstances has certainly helped me through this. I also think the sense of humor you develop going through the military definitely helped me. Tried to see the lighter side of a life where walking isn't exactly something I'm good at anymore. Everything I enjoyed had to change. I used to be a runner. I can hardly walk now. So, coming to terms with that, being able to use humor, I think that certainly helped make the dark days a bit easier as well.

Voirrey: I mean, I have to say Louise, like every time that we talk about this, I'm always just so astonished at your resilience and how you have adapted to your, your new life. And I know it was so difficult for you. I was obviously, you know, spoke to you a lot at the time and, and afterwards about kind of everything that you were going through and still now, I, I just have got so much respect for, you know, everything that you've done. You know, it makes me think sometimes you talked, you just told me about, you know, your training at Dartmouth and, you know, things like lugging challenges that you experience there, like lugging a log across Dartmoor and in the dark and you know, all these very strange challenges that people on civilian street, you know, don't have to do. I mean, no one carries a telegraph pole around for fun. But how would you say like your experience of having to overcome challenges in your training has kind of helped you dealing with these challenges. You know, what is your biggest challenge that you have kind of overcome since you were medically discharged?

Louise: The biggest challenge I found caught me off guard because I thought the biggest challenge would be physically getting around, getting used to not being able to do what I did before. But the biggest challenge that I came across was the loss of my identity. Having wanted to be a sailor since I was four, having joined the Royal Navy in 2011, my entire adult life had been revolved around the Royal Navy in the sea and suddenly through no part of my own, it was taken away. It wasn't my choice to leave. And I realized that so much of my identity was tied up with the fact that I saw myself as a sailor and a runner and suddenly I was unable to do both. Everything had changed and it was very, very hard to come to terms with what was my new life. You can't imagine what would happen if suddenly you can't even chop carrots because your wrists are too weak to do so. Or having always been physically fit, suddenly your legs won't hold you up. Even though you're still trying to get out.

It's very frustrating and I didn't know why this was happening to me for about five years. It took five years to find out the mechanics of what was going on. So I lost my identity. I didn't know why. And then once I was diagnosed in 2019, I had to come to terms with the fact that I have a genetic and therefore lifelong condition. My physiotherapist told me the other day in no uncertain terms, I will be doing physio daily until I am 99. But she might let me off when I turn 100. It's coming to terms with the fact that physio is now a daily thing I have to build into my life because otherwise I will lose more mobility. So the loss of my identity and coming to terms with what my life now looked like, they were the biggest challenges I faced.

Iveliz: Well, I I mean, I can imagine, I mean, it must be a frustrating journey to not know what's going on with you for five years. That must have been incredibly difficult. And I know that you mentioned and talked a lot about humor and the ability to adapt, helping you kind of cope with these things. But I imagine that since it changed your identity, right, who you were, was so rooted in things that you were doing. How did that shift? Right? What because you, you seem to have such a bright outlook, you know, on, on life and in the future. And I I'm curious, you know, as someone who has lost such big parts of their identity. What, what did you take on? You know, what, what, how did you adapt to that? You know, I know that you use humor to get through. But how did you find things, new things right that brought you just as much joy.

Louise: I’m very lucky in that. I have found things that brought me a lot of joy and doors open that I could never have imagined. And I realized that my identity isn't just tied up in being at sea. I was a sailor and I always will have been a sailor. I was a navigator and I'll never lose that. I was in the military and again, I can never lose that. So I've done it and I realized that my identity is so much more. As I left, I'm, I was always a very active person and I didn't want mobility issues and other physical limitations to stop that. So I found the world of disability sports and I started horse riding. I always rode when I was able bodied, didn't think that disability and horses would go together. However, it turns out they do. And I joined my local riding for the disabled group as both a rider which I now do competitively and as a trustee. So I've been working with my group for about five years. My last dressage competition was two weeks ago where my horse was in the words of the judge rather naughty, but it gave me something new, something to focus on something I can be good at again. I ride adaptively. I don't use my legs and it's opened this whole new world. There are things that I never imagined I could do. I started a business, I've been able to join the board of a really large charity in Glasgow. And these things are so much more than I could have imagined when everything was happening and I was being medically discharged. So there is so many positives that it is very hard to dwell on everything that's been lost. That was a very dark time. But then I found that there's so much more out there that you can do. And that really pulled me through.

Voirrey: I mean, I'd say that you're being quite modest about your starting of a business because you actually um won a few awards for your business and particularly with regards to your armed forces work. I mean, would you like to just tell us a little bit more about that? I think everyone would be really interested to hear about it.

Louise: I, I have actually um I've just been quietly working away in the financial sector for the last five years. I have my own business because that enables me to work from home. So the days I can't even stand, I can still do something. And in 2019, I was actually um nominated and shortlisted for the inspiration of the year award with the British X Forces and Business. And last week I went to Sterling Castle and received my employer recognition scheme gold award under the armed forces covenant as a sole trader, just me and the dog. So I was really proud about that. And it's one of the big things that I've done within my business is try to promote the armed forces community and businesses working with the armed forces and understanding the benefit that the reservists, the cadets, the veterans have on business. And I've done that through the armed forces covenant. So getting my gold award was pretty amazing as a sole trader and I'm really proud to have done.

Voirrey: So it was so amazing when I saw you post that on LinkedIn, you know, the the other day. Um I'm sure other social networking sites are available, and I do hope that you awarded Chief Morale Officer Winston who is an adorably fluffy German shepherd for anybody who likes dogs. I hope you got awarded with a nice treat.

Louise: I brought my husband with me and I shouldn't because he blinked in the photo of me receiving my award. I had to crop him out for social media. I should have bought the dog.

Voirrey: You definitely should.

Iveliz: Listen I’m sure we have some listeners who might be able to crop some eyes in there for you. So that's fantastic. You know, I think, you know, it's so inspiring to hear this story. Um And I know just in the US, how difficult it is for folks in the military to find work after the military. Um, a big issue that we face is, is recruiting and trying to uh connect, right, the skills learned in the military and just how impactful they are in the workplace. And I imagine the, you mentioned the rigidness, um the ability to adapt in the military has helped you with your career in finance. Would you elaborate a little bit more about how you think being in the military has really impacted you for the better with respect to your new career?

Louise: I think the obvious area it's helped is that I primarily work with the forces and ex forces and therefore being ex forces certainly helps in that respect. It means that I, I know the world, I know what to expect. I understand it in a way that others may not. And in that way, being in the military has been very beneficial. My experience in finance is also extended to the fact that I try to work with vulnerable individuals where I can and try to advocate for the disabled community, having acquired disability later in life myself. It's something quite important to me. And by using that, using my own experiences, I know that I'm a better advisor for it. I've also used my experience in the military, I don't know if it's just being in service, but I do a lot of pro bono work for the courses. I recently collaborated with a large military charity to design and deliver a finance course for disabled veterans. And I also do pro bono advice work with those in service when they go to certain charities for help. Being able to give my time when I can has meant a lot to me and it, it means that I don't feel too far removed from the forces as I didn't want to leave. It's left me with my link to the community. But I also know that from the more tangible business side of things, the structure, the organization, the ability to think quite quickly and learn things quite quickly, which is something all branches of the military I think have to do quite frequently has certainly helped. Finance can be quite dry. It's fascinating, I think I'm biased but it can be dry. There is a lot to learn. It changes a lot. And I think that having had to study throughout my military career for navigation exams, et cetera that has certainly helped me in the world of finance.

Voirrey: Yeah. I mean, I can definitely relate to you there, Louise, on the, you know, when you leave that kind of industry wanting to keep those connections. You know, when I left sea myself, like working in shipping law is, you know, a way that I feel that I still stay connected and having that common ground with captains and crew when I, you know, have to interview them about something that, you know, it's probably quite traumatic, you know, there's a reason that lawyers are involved and, um, having that common ground and that mutual respect, I think really helps because you come from that same kind of academic or, you know, kind of vocational background. So, I mean, the military training is obviously, you know, very intense and a lot is kind of thrown at you, you know, kind of all at once. You know, would you say that that kind of training environment kind of helps you with all your kind of financial studying and all the exams that you were doing for that, putting the time pressure onto yourself, which I know you like to do.

Louise: I think it did help. I'm very good at putting pressure on myself and I certainly did that during my exams, I did my diploma in financial planning in about three months. So it was quite a lot in a short period of time and I was still going through the diagnostic process as well. Certainly going through military training, which is also quite intense, helped with that time. But I was also finding it quite hard to get used to working with civilians and not be surrounded by the sort of people that I knew and understood. So I did withdraw quite a lot at the beginning, which was quite handy because it meant I could just study and focus on that and then it was certainly a benefit to have been in that sort of environment because I was able just to sit down, read the books, go through the questions, really learn the subject matter. So, yeah, I think it certainly helped.

Iveliz: Thank you so much Louis. And one of the ways we like to end our podcast is advice for our listeners. And I think there's two groups here that I think would really benefit from some of your words of wisdom. First, before I focus on people that might be navigating life challenges, I want to talk about those family members, those support systems that are helping people that may be experiencing these life challenges. You know, what advice do you have for them when their loved ones are going through similar things that you've encountered.

Louise: That's really hard. I'm very lucky that my friends and my husband, my family have all been incredibly supportive, but equally, I've seen how hard it is for them. Having the strong support network being more than just my disability to my friends and family I think for them understanding I have limitations, but it's still me. I think that helped. I'd have to ask my husband how he gets through every day with me. To be honest, because I don't know how he does it. Maybe the dog some fluffy stress relief. But I think it is just facing the challenges together because both sides of the coin need support. Families need support because it's a change for them as well and the person going through it needs support because it's not easy. So I think it is facing it as a team that is very beneficial because you can have a lot of positives from tough situations. It is just working through it, taking the time and working together.

Iveliz: Thank you. And I think that's a very important thing to leave our, our allies that are listening in right? You know, recognizing that just because somebody is experiencing uh changes in their life doesn't mean that they're not necessarily still them. And I love that you mentioned, you know, approaching it as a team. I think that's incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for that advice.

Voirrey: So, I mean, Louise as, as an ally of yours and a friend of yours in that sense, I hope that the support you got from our side was also as helpful as possible. To me, you are still just the same crazy Louise that you were when I knew you at university, obviously introduced you to Harry Potter, which I think helped.

Louise: Yeah.

Voirrey: So just as a final kind of question from me, for those people that are kind of having these challenges thrown at them, whether it's, you know, something as extreme as kind of the challenge that you have to overcome or just general challenges that pop up in kind of everyday life. What would be your top tips to our listeners for dealing with those challenges that life is throwing at you.

Louise: I think the first thing is to be kind to yourself. It's not easy and you are allowed to be frustrated and upset that it's happening to you because it's not fair and you're allowed to feel that you don't have to smile all the time. However, I also found it helped a lot to look for where the positives were. That kept me going just day in, day out. And this is about 10 years after everything started getting really bad in my health. I'm still on crutches. I’m doing my physio every day life has changed in ways I couldn't even imagine. And I do get overwhelmed. I had to see a cardiologist recently and there's another issue with my body and it seems never ending. So when I get overwhelmed by everything that's happening has happened and probably will happen because something else will probably fall apart soon anyway. I just take a step back. I let myself take the time, address things one by one, just keep moving forward. It doesn't matter how small that step is, it's just keep moving forwards, just keep going and just be kind to yourself. I think that's how I've got through it. And I think that those are the two biggest things that I can tell anyone that is going through something that's tricky.

Voirrey: I mean, I think being kind to yourself is a fantastic approach to take, whether you're going through a big challenge, a little challenge just in general, I think, you know, being kind to yourself is such an incredible way of thinking. Just final thing for me, I'd just like to say to you Louise and also to your husband, you know, from on the behalf of RS Vets and the wider Reed Smith community, thank you very much for your service. It is greatly appreciated by us all and, um, please pass that on to Adam as well who also served and I in turn will pass on to your physio that you have been doing your physio every day as Louise's physio is my mother.

Louise: I’ve, I’ve been doing really well.

Iveliz: Well, I wanna just say thank you both for your service and Louise thank you so much for coming and sharing your story with our listeners. I think, you know, this is a beautiful story of resilience, perseverance, um and adaptability. Um and very thankful that you were able to join us today. So thank you so much, both of you for joining us on today's podcast.

Voirrey: Thank you. Louise: Thank you for having me.

Outro: Inclusivity Included is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, PodBean and reedsmith.com.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Any views, opinions, or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers.

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