The Nutritional Supplement

Which course did you graduate from at CNELM and when did you graduate?

I did the Bioscience Entry Course (BEC) in 2009-2010, the BSc (Hons) in Nutrition Science from 2010-2013 and the MSc in Personalised Nutrition from 2017-2020.

 

What did you do before doing this course?

I started the BEC for the BSc aged 17. Before doing the MSc, I had worked as a spec tech in the food industry, and in an operational role for an agriculture and supply chain certification body,  NSF International, and also in an admin role for CNELM.

 

What made you decide to embark on this course of study and what attracted you to CNELM? 

CNELM is wonderfully accessible in terms of its study options. I was actually  raised within a cult environment, which I have now left. I did not attend school and therefore did not have GCSEs or A levels to be able to access higher education. I was able to do the CNELM biosciences access courses, which made university possible.

The flexible approach CNELM offers is also amazing, in terms of full or part time and distance learning. This has really suited me well, as a mum and also working part time, to be able to continue to study. I also really appreciated the CNELM rigour and scientific approach, and the focus on evidence based nutrition science. The mechanistic approach is also wonderful, taking a step back to look at the bigger picture and then stepping forward with a magnifying glass to observe the nitty gritty. It’s something I use daily in my work, whether teaching, writing, or mentoring students.

 

What was your first role after graduating?

After graduating I worked in the food industry as a specification technologist/technical assistant. I then worked for NSF International, an agriculture and supply chain certification company supporting as a business support assistant work pertaining to farm assurance (Red Tractor) and supply chain (BRC / IFS ), working closely with auditors. I also worked in those early days part time for CNELM after my eldest daughter was born, in an admin role supporting Dave Lee with technical and admin queries and tasks, whilst also doing some teaching for the Food for Health short course.

 

How did you kickstart your practice / career?

It took a lot of time to be honest. I had my kids very young and have done lots of different things. One thing I learned is that all experience is valuable, and to be patient and faithful to learn and do what you can, whilst you are working towards where you want to go.

I already had a toddler when I started the MSc, I then had my second a year later, and then was pregnant with my third whilst doing the final modules and MSc thesis. I did what volunteering I could with my small children to keep building my CV. I did a placement at the University of Oxford related to my MSc thesis during my last trimester and after the birth, to further build my research skills and give context. This involved doing a research project on breast and bottle feeding nutrition and how this impacted the brains of neonates, as measured by functional MRI scans.

This was done under the mentorship of Dr Caroline Hartley, a neonatal neuroscientist and fellow of St John’s college. This experience helped to build confidence and skills, and to secure paid work once my baby was older. I also completed my 200hr and pregnancy yoga certificates at the same time, and was volunteering teaching female survivors of abuse living with mental illness. This developed my interest in psychotraumatology and the use of lifestyle medicine, alongside nutrition, as integrative interventions for individuals living with complex trauma.

This was following the observations drawn from speaking with many of these ladies who graciously shared their stories, and were often living with an array of diseases such as autoimmune disease, as well as mental illness, and how their lived experience had contributed to the demise in both their physical and mental wellbeing.

 

Where has your career taken you so far? 

After graduating and having some time out whilst my youngest was a baby, I worked for a brain health and nutrition charity for over a year in a nutrition science and research capacity. I have also been working as a nutrition scientist with a start up who have created a personalised nutrition app, helping them develop their offering and ensuring all information is scientifically sound.

Since summer 2022, I have been at Nutritank, where I am presently Nutrition Education Lead. This involves delivering educational webinars, and also researching and writing education articles on nutrition and lifestyle medicine for doctors, nurses and HCPs. These are principally on nutritional psychiatry, but also on nutritional psychotraumatology, a new field I’m advocating for which seeks to explore how experiencing trauma contributes to increased risk of chronic diseases, and accelerated biological ageing in survivors due to HPA axis overactivation and related mechanisms.

I also do course creation, and I’m in the process of developing a nutrition and lifestyle medicine course to teach to practitioners working specifically with survivors of sexual trauma. Working closely with our lead dietitian, we also host students for their university placements, which is a great joy. We had a CNELM student this year, which was a wonderful experience.

There have also been opportunities to do newspaper articles (Telegraph and Sunday Times) and radio (BBC) interviews, talking to the general public regarding nutrition with relation to various areas of health. I’m also doing an MSc Psychology conversion course part time, and hope to apply for a PhD in a few years time and hopefully become a clinical psychologist someday, specialising in nutrition and lifestyle medicine and advocating for integration of these interventions alongside general psychological therapies.

Other than that I volunteer supporting my husband, who is a parish priest, doing various bits of community work, and also teach English as a foreign language to individuals from China and Ukraine.

 

Do you specialise in a particular area of health? 

Mental health and complex trauma; Alzheimer’s disease prevention.

 

Which part do you think has been the most rewarding or successful? 

Being able to mentor and teach students has been wonderful. Many students I have worked with live with long term physical and mental health conditions, disabilities, or additional learning needs. Being able to support them to learn and grow in a positive learning environment, build confidence and new skills and see them unfold and develop never gets old. 

I also founded Nutrition United three years ago now, a group of passionate graduate and student dietitians, nutritionists and nutritional therapists that gather together to have positive discussions, and also volunteer on various projects together. We have created a response to the present issues of 800,000 children living in poverty, but not being eligible for free school meals, a low budget healthy recipe book for a charity and also a couple of nutrition guides for a charity supporting medical students with mental health education. 

 

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

I cannot emphasise enough the importance of relevant work experience. I wish I had done more as a young teenager doing the BSc (it would have been easier to fit this in). Think about the areas you are interested and want to work in, and start approaching organisations and charities in that area. Writing articles or doing various tasks, albeit for free, will really help with any applications later on. It was also essential for my AfN portfolio.  

Also make sure you keep up any hobbies and interests, and make sure that you are having a healthy work / study / life balance, as this is imperative for our wellbeing.

 

What or who has most inspired you in your work? 

I’m really thankful to have encountered many incredible practitioners throughout my studies and work. I’m really thankful to my husband and family for their support. I think Kate Neil is incredible for the work she has done building CNELM, and I draw inspiration from her example.

Dr Caroline Hartley and David Titman were both incredibly supportive during my AfN application, and I am so thankful for them. I also find the students and volunteers incredibly inspiring; some of them have faced immense challenges but they have so much passion and are all doing amazing things in the world of nutrition.

 

Do you have any tips, hints, things you’d have done differently...? 

I really believe it is important to have self-compassion in both our professional and personal life. Often we can look back with the benefit of hindsight and perhaps give ourselves a hard time, because we see where we feel we failed or we could have done better or differently. I would encourage people to be kind to themselves and to have kindsight - this is looking at our experiences not asking “what were we thinking?” with the benefit of maturity, insight and growth, but rather “what were we learning?” and seeing everything that has been leading us to where we are now. 

In terms of tips and hints, I would just encourage people to 1) not listen to naysayers but listen to your heart and follow where you feel it is leading you, and 2) take a chance on yourself and believe in possibilities.

I spent so much of my early life petrified with anxiety, living with undiagnosed Asperger's, and scared of failure and letting people down, which really impacted on my confidence and self-esteem and is still something I struggle with. Shifting my mentality and choosing to leap and follow my dreams, not listen to the opinions and criticisms of others and face failure with a growth mindset, was (and still is) both the hardest and best thing I ever did.

I wish each of you well with your studies and journeys, and that you will have courage to take a chance on yourselves, step out and take risks and make all of your ambitions a reality.