May has been an interesting and busy month for me here at AM Dietetics. Just for a change, I thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve been up to these past few weeks.
Teaching/Lecturing :
This month I’ve been lecturing at The University of Chester. This included lectures and seminars to MSc Nutrition and Dietetic and MSc Public Health Nutrition students on the medicine behind and dietary management of Cardiovascular Disease and Hypertension and on Hyperlipidaemia. These were really interesting sessions with a great group of future nutrition professionals who challenged me with some insightful and clever questions.
I was also very honoured to be invited to speak at a Social Media for Dietitians seminar at Kings College London May 17th 2012. It was a wonderful opportunity for me not only to meet so many of the registered dietitians and nutritionists I encounter on a regular basis on twitter and facebook but also to be able to encourage more to venture into social media. I managed to place a lot more registered Dietitians on the Twitter list and hopefully gave an insight to the benefits of getting involved in social media.
Consultancy Work:
It was brilliant to spend a day doing a workplace “corporate health package” for a company in Wrexham this month. The organisation in question had one of the friendliest and most welcoming groups of employees I’ve met in quite some time and I really enjoyed the day. It’s really great to see employers and companies caring enough about their staff to put on days like that. It’s a credit to them and shows how forward thinking they are, given the many benefits organisations can gain from keeping their employees happy and healthy. They made a mean cup of coffee and gave me a lovely thank you gift as well.
Clinical work:
I’ve seen a regular number of clients in my clinics for assistance with particular dietary needs and health concerns such as IBS and Diabetes but have also been doing a few days with the local NHS Community Dietitians in the area working with patients who need Nutritional Support. This includes many who are frail and elderly. It’s quite an eye opener to see how many people are at risk of malnutrition behind closed doors in my local community. The local NHS Dietitians are a hard working and caring team who are making a real difference and it’s been a wonderful opportunity to work with them.
Media Training:
On 23rd May I went to the British Dietetic Association’s head office in Birmingham to undergo media training in order to become a BDA Media Spokesperson. The training was wonderful, with lots of tips and even a mock radio interview. It was pretty scary but was such a valuable exercise. Im looking forward to promoting good nutrition and the Dietetic profession in my role as a Media spokesperson. Look out for me, my name might just pop up by a few lines in your newspaper or magazine.
So you can see its quite a lot of variety in the Freelance world of Dietetics. I have a few other exciting projects in the pipeline for June…let’s hope it’s as busy for Northwest Nutrition.
