Linda Mather
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you. I would also like to say farewell to the former chair of PIAPA, Yvonne Senior, who has taken the organisation from a few colleagues supporting each other to the amazing association that it is today. She has given so much of her time and efforts to PIAPA without complaint and with good grace, even when times have been hard. I can only hope to fill her shoes. With the support of our representatives and members, I know that PIAPA will continue to grow and develop.
My background is a general nurse since qualifying as a state registered nurse in 1987, and I have worked in many specialties including many years as a band 7 ward sister. I opened Chamonix clinic in 2008 with no clients but the unwavering belief that it would work; not a perfect business plan, but it shows what hard work and determination can do, and these are things that I have tonnes of. Over the years, Chamonix expanded and we later introduced a training branch, which has also developed rapidly through sheer enthusiasm and hard work. It is this hard-working positivity that I hope to bring to the association.
In recent years, my role has transitioned from aesthetic nurse and business owner into other avenues of responsibility. I am an ambitious, dedicated and occasionally chaotic multitasker. I began working with Northumbria University several years ago on a consultancy basis to develop the MSC in Non-Surgical Aesthetic Practice. I also completed a PG Cert in Education, and continue working with the Aesthetic Complication Expert Group (ACE). As a result, my social life is minimal, but not without hobbies, such as running and even geology and dinosaurs.
I have always contributed as much as I can to the aesthetic sector, and winning Aesthetic Nurse of the Year, awarded by the British Journal of Nursing, in recognition of my efforts, is something I am most proud of.
I have little interest in the turmoil of industry politics, and would rather see us all start working together towards a better sector and greater patient safety. What I will do is always offer my help and support, and I promise to do my best to develop PIAPA so that it can be the ultimate helping hand for aesthetic practitioners.
Bev Kelly
I entered into aesthetics just over 4 years ago, but my relationship with aesthetics began many years before. A friend kept telling me I should ‘do aesthetics’ because I would be good at it. I went to meetings and a few training events and read everything I could. I loved how clever it was to achieve great results, to make small changes for the better and improve someone's appearance, but also make a huge difference to their self-esteem. But it was still all too risky, so I stuck with my nice safe job in the NHS, caring for chronically and acutely unwell patients in the community with heart failure and complex cardiac arrhythmia. It was a full-time case load and part time hours.
The areas in which I have worked have always meant that I have needed a high level of clinical knowledge in both my early years in acute and critical care, followed by primary care as a practice nurse, and then as a cardiac nurse specialist. I believe that quality education is essential and have ensured my own competence to work in all the areas in which I practise, seemingly being an eternal student. I have qualifications in all chronic diseases and prescribing, and a whole plethora of things that occasionally still prove useful.
The same is true for aesthetics. I found out everything that could go wrong and ensured that I knew exactly how to put it right, or that I knew someone that could help me do so. I was surprised at the lack of clinical evidence for the treatments we provide in contrast to the NHS, where there was a guideline for everything, even a Bradford Stool Chart! I then found a trainer who could teach me these techniques, but also who readily shared their knowledge and provided ongoing support. I'm a safe, risk-averse nurse and I have total respect for the professionals I meet who, like me, work to high clinical standards. They invest in quality education and training for themselves and share knowledge, skills and experience. Even in the years I have been working in aesthetic medicine, I have seen improvements towards better clinical evidence and regulation; however, there is some way to go and I wanted to do my part to help towards this. I am looking forward to working with Linda and all the PIAPA representatives, and remain extremely grateful and in awe of the work that Yvonne and the team have already done.