A social worker who lost her home and suffered severe depression after being dismissed has spoken of representing herself at an employment tribunal and winning claims against her former employer.
Marissa Bradbury, 60, of Chickerell, spent more than two decades working as a youth justice officer for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, predominantly in Weymouth, Dorchester and Portland, in a career she says she "loved".
But her working life unravelled in 2024 following an allegation concerning a cheek-to-cheek greeting with a 16-year-old former client at the Compass Learning Centre in Weymouth.
Marissa said the brief encounter happened when the girl spotted her and approached her to give an update on how she was doing.
Another professional witnessed the greeting and concerns were subsequently raised about physical contact and professional boundaries.
Marissa was suspended and later dismissed.
She said a significant issue during the subsequent proceedings was a policy concerning physical contact which she had no recollection of being shown beyond a team meeting years earlier.
She said she questioned managers at the tribunal about how the policy had subsequently been reviewed and communicated to frontline workers.
Marissa, who has rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and back problems, also raised concerns about team meetings held upstairs at the Colliton Club in Dorchester, which she said she could not access because of her mobility problems.
Her employment ended in June 2024 and, after unsuccessfully appealing against her dismissal, she took her case to an employment tribunal.
She says the consequences were devastating.
After losing her salary, Marissa applied for Universal Credit and later had to leave the two-bedroom house she rented in Charlestown, Weymouth.
She stayed with her mother, sleeping on a sofa bed, while dealing with the employment dispute and trying to find somewhere suitable to live.
Marissa said: "I lived under this black cloud for over two years."
She said her mental health deteriorated severely and she experienced suicidal thoughts on two occasions.
Her dog, she says, became one of the reasons she kept going.
"He got me through a lot," she said. "I had to get up every morning. I had to feed him and I had to walk him."
"When I was at my lowest, I remember walking around Lodmoor Park very early in the morning, crying, thinking, 'This is it, I've had enough, I can't do it any more.'"
"But I have come out the other side."
Marissa eventually secured an adapted home in September 2025, but her legal fight continued.
Unable to afford the cost of instructing a barrister, she represented herself when the tribunal case was heard in March 2026.
"It was so hard against a barrister," she said.
Marissa gave evidence remotely because of her health and said she came close to abandoning the case after breaking down while being questioned.
She said: "I couldn't cope physically because stress makes me more ill, mobility-wise, and my mental health was deteriorating.
"I was like, 'I can't cope with this. I'm just not going to be able to do it.'"
The employment tribunal found Marissa had been unfairly dismissed by BCP Council, while her separate claim for wrongful dismissal was rejected.
She was awarded a total of £4,702, which also included compensation after the tribunal upheld part of her reasonable adjustments claim.
For Marissa, the outcome was about more than financial compensation.
"It wasn't about the money," she said. "I didn't care about the money. It was more about the vindication.
"It was the fact that there was some accountability."
Social Work England concluded there was no realistic prospect of Marissa's fitness to practise being found impaired, meaning the case was closed and she could continue practising as a social worker.
However, case examiners found there was a realistic prospect of it being proved that she had improperly sent sensitive service-user information to her personal email account, and issued her with an unpublished warning about maintaining confidentiality.
It is a painful conclusion to a career she began after going to university as a 30-year-old single mother and training for three years.
"I loved the job," she said. "I loved the young people I worked with. I loved my colleagues.
"It was challenging, but I got a lot of reward from it."
She said reading statements from former colleagues and people she had helped eventually restored some of the confidence she had lost.
"I got to a stage after my employment tribunal where I felt, 'I think they were lucky to have me,'" she said.
"I miss not working. I think I could have managed, I could have carried on, and I would have carried on."
"But due to my physical and mental health due to the impact of this case and the long-term term stress it had on me, I can't."
A spokesperson for BCP Council said: “The council does not comment on individual employment cases. The judgment and the circumstances considered by the Tribunal are publicly available on the gov.uk website.”
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