An ex-nurse who left her job because of bullying is achieving success in her new career as a comedian.
Louise Stokes worked as a nurse for 15 years, but she left her job at an NHS child and adolescent unit in Birmingham in 2000. She began writing novels and poems, and performing as a stand-up comedian shortly afterwards, reports Nursing Standard.
Ms Stokes has chosen to perform comedy sketches that raise awareness of issues including workplace bullying, and runs a community theatre company called Fizzog, which also tackles the issue.
Her characters include a "chav" poet, Kimmy Sue Anne, described as "one of her family of bizarre yet unnervingly recognisable characters". She has now been commissioned by several NHS trusts to show NHS management how their behaviour can affect both staff and patients.
This new career gives Ms Stokes the chance to combine her nursing and drama skills with her own experiences of workplace bullying to prevent others having to endure what she went through, she told the magazine.
To date, she has reached the finals and semi-finals of several stand-up comedy competitions, including "So You Think You’re Funny?" at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
She explains that her personal experience of being bullied "to within an inch of her life" by NHS senior management left her with "loads of comedy material but no sense of humour whatsoever".
Fortunately, her sense of humour returned and she decided to "turn tragedy into comedy and live off the proceeds".
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