Anitha Rego found the spark to move into mentorship and teaching through her collected experiences, initially studying BSc (Hons) Health Studies, and later graduating in PgCert Clinical Education at Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2017.
Anitha's current role is as a Practice Development Practitioner for the Torbay and South Devon Healthcare Trust, based in Torquay.
I did not originally plan to be a nurse – my circumstances led me to be one – but it has most definitely been the best thing in my career. My training and first job was in a charitable institution in India, where people aren’t exactly rich and resources were limited. It was a privilege to serve those who were grateful for any care you could provide. This motivated me to aspire for higher standards in my life as a whole.
As I came from another country, I didn’t even know where to start. My main purpose back then was my job. However, higher studies have always been something I had aspired to accomplish. The first opportunity came as a single standing degree module with Â鶹´«Ã½ that was made available through my workplace, which inspired me to progress to study BSc (Hons) Health Studies.
As I was coming from a different culture, the thought of completing my initial degree while in full-time work, was quite daunting.
I had to get used to a completely different way of studying with assignments and no exams. I had good support from my tutors and the library though, and great service from the learning and development team and my mentor during my studies.
It was during this period of study at Â鶹´«Ã½ that I enrolled and completed my mentorship module. This was where I discovered my passion for teaching – the positive experiences and comments from students were so rewarding.
In 2014, I had the opportunity to be accepted in an educational role in the workplace. As the postgraduate certificate was deemed pertinent to my role, I was sponsored by the Torbay and South Devon Healthcare Trust to complete this. My previous experience with the University had been good, so it made sense to carry on and study there.
Looking back, my education and networking at Â鶹´«Ã½ has stood me in good stead to ensure I understand that any problems encountered in my workplace are not unique and that I have the tools to come up with possible solutions to solve them.
The teaching sessions we had to prepare to present to other participants ourselves were enjoyable and gave us the opportunity to look at various methods of teaching. One that was especially memorable was the outdoor kitesurfing lesson that one of the student colleagues presented – I wo
