The Nutritional Supplement

1.     What Course did you graduate from at CNELM and when did you graduate?

MSc in Personalised Nutrition, graduated in 2013. 

I had already completed a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Diploma from The Paragon College in Leatherhead and was practising as a nutritional therapist.  However, The Paragon College closed down before their course became accredited.  I felt conscious of the fact my nutritional therapy qualification was not accredited and so decided to take my studies further. I was planning to study for a BSc, but as I already had a degree in Business Studies and had ‘A’ levels in Biology and Chemistry and had been practising nutritional therapy I was able to apply for the MSc at CNELM and was accepted.

2.    What made you decide to become a nutritional therapist / practitioner?

My youngest of three children turned ten years old and I was at a crossroads looking for what to do next. I had always had an interest in food and health and I came across a course at Raworth in Dorking which was local to me.  So I started there just out of interest initially, learning anatomy & physiology with a view to doing their dietary therapy course, and then I became enthralled with how the body works and just carried on from there. The Raworth Centre closed down so then I moved to The Paragon College in Leatherhead to complete my Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Diploma and then started practising.  I became more and more fascinated in health and how it affects our bodies and our lives.  The more I studied the more fascinated I became, so I decided I wanted to study at a higher level to understand how everything is linked and the mechanisms behind them.  I was particularly attracted to the distance-learning option offered by CNELM and the flexibility this offered for fitting around family life, etc.

3.    Do you specialise in a particular area of health?

No I don’t specialise because I actually like not knowing what’s going to come through my door next and having to delve deeper if it’s an area I’m not comfortable with.  I like the variety this offers.

4.    Did you start practising as soon as you graduated or were you already practising?

I was already practising before I started the MSc as I had the Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Diploma from Paragon.  I continued to practice while I was studying the MSc, but I was not actively seeking work because I studied full-time. 

Upon graduating from the MSc I started working from a skin rejuvenation clinic which offers beauty treatments but also now nutrition.  I work there on a private basis but use their facilities and tap into their client base. My website also generates private clients which I could see from home but I prefer to see them at the skin clinic, as it is more professional.

5.    How did you kickstart your practice?

As soon as I graduated I created my own website, and set up a profile on referral websites such as Nutritionist Resource and started to promote myself locally. I also joined a women-only networking group in the area which was a really good way to build confidence and start promoting myself as my own business.  It also opened up a lot of contacts. Initially all my clients materialised from this networking group which met once a month.

The group I joined was called Athena, and they have groups all around the UK.  Each area’s group will only accept one person from a particular profession, so if you are accepted you would be the only nutritional therapist in the group.  Being a women-only group I also found this was very conducive to getting to know people on a social level which made the networking relationships much easier to foster.  I also learned a lot of professional skills through this group, such as social media skills, website skills etc.  I met a photographer through this group who did the headshots for my website, for example and I learned how to do all my social media through a social media expert from the group.  Nutritional Therapy can be very isolating when you no longer have your student cohort, so I found this group was also a great way of getting myself out of the house and feeling like I belonged, so it was a good investment from both a business and personal point of view.  I stayed a member for about two years, after which I found I no longer had the time for the regular group meetings as my business / practice had begun to take off, so I was on my way.

The other thing I did was to organise health retreats.  I’ve had a holiday rental business in the Loire Valley in France for 15 years, so I decided to combine this business with my nutrition business and started running health retreats in France.  We’ve run four retreats so far (two per year for the last two years), and while the programme itself has received very positive feedback, people seem to be reluctant to travel that far for a four day retreat.  We have considered extending the length of the retreat, but this then raises the price, so it’s a fine line. However we are thinking of extending the retreat to 5 days for next year.  So far we’ve managed to get 10 people on each retreat so we will see how it goes next year.  The location is lovely in wine territory with beautiful countryside, walks and cycle rides, but we’ve found that some people don’t necessarily want the expense of travelling to another country but still want to learn about nutrition.

So now we (myself and my business partner, Colette Heneghan) are thinking of organising one-day retreats in London.  The format will be a slimmed down version of the French retreats.  So, in France, they would start the day with yoga, and then there would be a workshop in the morning and another one in the afternoon eg. on Eat for Energy; Digestive Health; Superfoods or a Cookery Workshop.  In between there will be the opportunity for bike rides and walks and also other therapeutic activities such as massage.  It’s quite a full programme but the idea is to show people that you can introduce a lot more activity into your day, while they also learn about nutrition and health and how it affects them.  We do all the cooking and we try and practice what we preach, so they will end up eating about 10 vegetables a day without even trying!

The London version will be more of a Health MOT and learning exercise for one day.  So instead of actually doing a yoga class, they may be given yoga exercises to take away with them, for example.

6.    How would you describe how you work?

I work when I’ve got clients – I quite like not having regular work days although I realise this would not suit everyone.  However, because of the French property / retreat business I’ve got lots of different things going on, so right now it’s all about maintenance, decorating and putting in new bathrooms etc. ready for the new season.  I manage all of this from the UK, so for me it’s not a problem that I don’t have set hours/days.  However that also means that I don’t have a fixed income.  Again, this is not a primary concern for me because I earn from multiple income streams, plus I’m not the only earner in the family, so in that sense it’s easier.

I see maybe three clients per week on average, a mix of new and returning clients. When I see clients I book them in for a Health Improvement Programme, which is three appointments and they pay up front. 

I use a lot of functional testing in my practice.  I tend to order my tests and supplements primarily from one distributor, partly because it was through them that I was introduced to the skin rejuvenation clinic, but I also like the variety and range of tests and supplements that they provide.

7.    Have there been any particular influences, or influencers e.g. tutors, other practitioners, books etc. that have inspired you in your work?

My studying colleagues, Satu Jackson and Colette Heneghan!  I studied the MSc full-time and it was really full-on.  The three of us hung on to each other all the way through the programme.  As it got tough, we would start our day off by Skyping and motivating each other and talking through what we had to do for the assignments and dissertations. We did this every day and I honestly think if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have got through like I did!

As regards other influencers, I get so immersed in this field that I find I am influenced by EVERYTHING!  In fact, from the very beginning, one thing you realise with nutrition is that you never ever feel as if you know it all or even close!  There’s so much new stuff emerging, ground-breaking stuff, so just picking up a CAM magazine can really influence me and my work.

I’m also Chair of the CPD Committee at BANT. I started this as a student member of the team and this was fantastic for me because it meant I had access to all the seminar materials, conferences and webinars that were coming through for CPD approval.  I was asked to be Chair (2013) when I was finishing my MSc dissertation, so that’s been brilliant for me so I’m very involved in the industry and I feel very passionate about that because I feel nutrition does need to come to the forefront of healthcare. The role also means that I’m always learning, always being exposed to new information and research and clinical practices and that keeps me inspired.  I attend a lot of CPD seminars so this is how I keep abreast of new knowledge but it is also what inspires me.  You work on your own a lot as a Nutritional Therapist, so going to these events is really good for networking with other practitioners and I always come away inspired with another idea of what I’m going to do or another concept I’m going to introduce with one of my clients. 

I believe that CPD is fantastic and crucial, and a lot if it is free, so although I’m fortunate in my role as I can attend as the BANT Representative, there is plenty of free CPD available out there.  For me, this is essential.  It’s not just the networking, it’s the fabulous speakers which get your mind working and make you think differently.

8.    What is your vision for the future in terms of your career? [Your beliefs, values, dreams etc!]

The retreats have proved rewarding and successful so I would like to find a way of putting a lot of effort into one thing and making these events more financially viable.  It’s not always easy to get people to pay on a private basis, even though the clinic that I work from is in an affluent area. So I’d like to focus on the retreats because it’s a good way of getting my nutrition knowledge across to a larger group of clients. 

Another area I’d like to get involved in is schools. I recently went into a private school where I gave a talk during their PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education) and Life Skills classes.  I would like to do that with more schools, so I’m currently pursuing that.  I talk to them about nutrition, how it influences them, how it can be linked to their academic performance and sports performance, and how it may affect them in the future as adults.  I think it’s really important to start this type of education at grass roots!

So far the schools have been receptive to this, however it’s always a case of funding so the private schools are more receptive at the moment.

9.    What advice would you give to those who are just starting their training?

Building confidence is so important.  It’s quite difficult to impart nutrition knowledge in a patient-centred way and it only comes with practice, confidence and understanding. I would suggest a good way to get started is to 'practice' giving client-centred explanations to family and friends. The more opportunity you have to explain concepts and mechanisms in a client-centred manner before working with 'real' clients the better. I would also advise to try and do as much CPD as possible, as you’re listening to other people imparting their knowledge.  The more you listen, the more you learn and the more it sinks in.  In this way you get to understand how to explain things. I found that the more exposure I had the more confidence I developed, which led me to believe that I do understand the mechanisms and wouldn't get tongue-tied trying to explain them. I am still learning!

10.  What advice would you give to those who are just about to graduate?

The networking group was brilliant for me because it introduced me to skills that I didn’t know I needed. It also provided me with social interaction and made me think of myself more as a business and how to get out there and find clients. It also gets you out of the house.  Some of the networking groups are free but many charge, however I considered it to be a worthwhile investment.  You just need to get out there – after every networking meeting I came back inspired having learned something and eager to try something new.

11.  Do you have any tips, hints, regrets….??

Put yourself out there!  Despite being a reasonably confident person I still find networking scary. Meeting people at these conferences is also scary but you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and keep doing so. Eventually you will feel more confident. Initially, you can go and just listen and watch. You will slowly build that confidence while you’re studying, and at the same time you’re immersing yourself in that whole knowledge bank and mixing and making contact with like-minded people.  This is what will help to build your confidence.