Sue Camp - Career Profile

What Course(s) did you graduate from at CNELM and when did you graduate?

I fast tracked the BSc Nutritional Therapy and then transferred to the MSc both in same year, 2013.

What made you decide to embark on this course of study?

I was running a catering and cafe business in healthy food in Namibia and I just wanted to get out of the kitchen and focus on health through nutrition.

What did you do before starting this course?

My initial journey with food started when I was in tourism and we were living in the bush in Botswana running a safari camp. I was in the kitchen creating fresh wholesome meals from very local, seasonal ingredients and really enjoying that process. I then went on to catering when we moved to Namibia. I met a friend there who had managed depression through food and nutrition and been able to get off her medication and that was really inspiring for me.

Why did you decide to move to the UK and choose CNELM for your studies?

I have a British passport and my brother was in the UK which meant I could live with him, so logistically the UK made sense. I really wanted an accredited degree course, which CNELM had. The other option was Australia which has lots of very good courses, but that was just a bit too far.

Were you working alongside studying?

I was doing a part time job in tourism, which was my previous career, while I was studying. That was three days a week and it was really very challenging doing both together.

Did you use your dietary educators certificate after the first year of study or undertake any other nutrition work alongside studying at this time?

Yes and yes! Once I had my dietary educator’s certificate I worked in a local gym in Richmond offering nutrition education to gym members and then ran a 6 week weight loss course, with great success.

Which other courses have you done since graduating?

I’ve done a huge amount of CPD both with Genova and on my own. Recently I’ve been focusing on nutrigenomics, because I think it’s going to become incredibly important and it’s a string to our bow which the GP’s may not have a handle on. It really goes hand in hand with functional testing and functional medicine and I think can be a very powerful tool in clinic.

Which course during your training have you found the most useful or is there anything you would do differently?

I’ve recently done a course with Anne Pemberton called Gene Snippers, which is nutrigenomics. She also brought in a lot of her vast clinical experience and alongside that used a lot of functional testing to see if genes were being up or down regulated. It was really clinically applicable and so interesting.

I think the systems biology approach is so crucial and understanding how these systems connect is going to be really important in the future.

Do you have any particular area of interest or specialisation?

Being a runner myself, I’ve always enjoyed sports nutrition and so I work with some athletes. I also work at a clinic in London which focuses in eating disorders – especially over eating and weight loss. And of course digestion is so crucial to any area of nutrition and also nutrigenomics.

What work did you do after graduating?

I just started to build my practice and quite quickly started looking for industry paid jobs.

Why did you decide to work for Genova?

It was such a great opportunity to gain experience in functional testing. I loved the fact that the role was round medical education and we had the resources support that we do in terms of literature and research, plus an incredibly experienced team in the US.

Did you also set up your own NT practice? If so, how did it work out?

Yes I did. Time constraints have meant that it’s small, but I do have a few of my own clients. However I mainly see clients with the London clinic, Weight Matters.

Was practising the way you thought it would be when you decided to train as a nutritional therapist?

Yes and no. There’s a constant battle to make it work as a business yet provide the time and research that is needed for each client. I always knew it was going to be a tough business model and I think the learning is to understand the value of yourself and what you provide for clients, because I do think we tend to undervalue ourselves, our knowledge and what we can provide and we don’t charge accordingly.  I think the one to one model is tough and it’s about finding an income stream in addition to that. You have to be creative to make it work financially.

Is there anything you wish you’d known before finishing your studies that you might have prepared for differently?

No not really. I came out of college and I realised how much I didn’t know! I’m constantly overwhelmed about how much there is to learn – it’s never ending. I wouldn’t have done anything differently.

What or who has most inspired you in your work?

I’m inspired by the functional medicine guys – Jeffery Bland! It’s the insight into the FM approach of systems biology that is so inspiring. It’s quite obvious now because he’s made it so mainstream, and it seems crazy that it never used to be. I think he’s worked incredibly  hard to get functional medicine to where it is now.

Leo Pruimboom also was such an inspiration and the whole PNI scenario.

Do you have any tips, hints for graduates, or regrets...?

No regrets! I think we tend to see each other as competition within the industry and I think if we worked more together as a team rather than seeing each other as a threat, our industry would be more collaborative and fruitful. I think that’s because we think there’s not enough work, but there is a huge amount of work, plus the industry growing and working together would help improve opportunity rather than do the opposite. Hint – the learning only really starts when you leave college!

Last modified: Tuesday, 26 April 2016, 7:26 PM