I want to just do my best, says new jurat

Felicity Quevatre-Malcic, 66, has started her training and will hopefully join the bench at the end of this month.

‘I think it is a great responsibility and a privilege,’ she said.

‘I want to just do my best.’

She has previously worked as a journalist for the BBC and Channel 4 News.

In more recent times she has worked as a counsellor and psychotherapist.

She said she had been thinking about applying for the role for a while.

‘I never knew how it worked,’ she said.

Then in January she attended an event called Stand Up for Your Island. It was organised by local group Women in Public Life, which has been helping to encourage and support more women to take on public roles.

Jurat Quevatre-Malcic said it felt like the right time to put herself forward for a public role.

‘I thought that I had skills that would be useful,’ she said.

‘As a journalist you spend a lot of time talking to people and understanding how people’s minds work and what makes them do the things they do.

‘And you have the chance to observe how people view the world.’

A lot of the same skills are then carried through into her counsellor work, although of course that is confidential.

‘When I was a journalist everybody knew what I did,’ she said.

‘And as a counsellor no one knows what I do. It’s quite an interesting contrast.’

Before applying, she did a lot of research about the role and also spoke to some sitting jurats so she could understand the challenges that would be involved.

They had warned her that they often had to deal with disturbing material.

She admitted to having some trepidation about the new role.

‘I think it will be very interesting thing to do.’

She said she understood that the job would be a collaborative one.

‘It is about discussing and listening to other people’s views and respecting other people’s points of view,’ she said.