Hi! Thank you for having a browse of my little bit of cyberspace.

Firstly, don't worry. My training skills are better than my web design skills (so go easy on me - it's my first go at this website malarkey and I'm having a bash at it all by myself, mainly at 2am when the coffee has stopped working). Kindly let me know if something isn't working right or you have any tips or suggestions for content you would like me to add using the contact page.

My Story

(If you don't want to read the monologue, scroll down for the highlights instead)

I'm Alys. I'm a Registered Nurse, qualified teacher, immunisation specialist, and phlebotomy enthusiast, with a special interest in Travel Health. If you need help with any of that, I'm here for you.

I love spending my time immersing myself in these subjects and helping others to find the joy in them too. I know what it's like to run a busy, fully booked clinic, never having enough time, breaks, energy, or money. Enthusiasm and passion is what has got me through the more challenging days in clinic. So, you will always be assured of a good dose of positivity and lots of all-important TIPS from me.

I am an experienced freelance clinical trainer with many years of both clinical and teaching experience. I started off as a Health Care Assistant, which I enjoyed for several years, and continued this role while doing my Psychology BSc. I then went on to do a PGCE in post-compulsory Education and enjoyed a wonderful couple of years as a Psychology Lecturer.

But I missed health care enormously which prompted me to start my RGN training at Manchester University. My first nursing job was in Accident and Emergency and I LOVED it (and trust me when I say I REALLY do know what it's like to work in a busy full-on clinical environment).

But as time went on, I realised that I craved being on the side of preventative medicine instead. In between jobs and studying, I maintained my love of travel and exploration of the world, getting away at every opportunity. I learned lots about travel health the HARD way by doing things wrong.

One fine day, my love of travel brought me to a small private specialist travel clinic (the wonderful Manchester branch of Nomad) for my Yellow Fever vaccine and Diamox. I knew from the moment I went in there that this was a role I REALLY wanted to spend my days doing. Fixing people BEFORE they get sick! Talking about the joy (and perils) of travel all day! Preparing travellers for a healthy and safe trip of a lifetime. Wonderful role. It felt like it could be the best job EVER!

So I stalked the company until they finally relented and gave me a job. I began as Lead Nurse, then CQC registered manager, then, by the time COVID-19 gave its best shot at annihilating travel health nurses (as no-one was traveling), I had finally achieved my dream job goal of becoming Education Lead for the company. I got stuck in to expanding the Nomad Education programme for new staff, and training up mentors within the company. All the while, I had been dabbling with a bit of external teaching on the side too, representing Nomad at conferences and talks, and the odd bit of private work such as pre-departure health briefings for VSO, and Travel health courses for M&K. By the time COVID-19 hit, there was naturally quite a lot of demand for injection and immunisation training so I was kept very busy. Then Mpox decided to show up too, just to add another viral outbreak into the mix, and people needed training on intradermal techniques to administer the vaccine for that one.

Euan at Health Academy rang me during this time and asked if I wanted to do some teaching for them too. Later on, Pam at Dovetail got in touch. And before I knew it, my training diary was jam packed and I had drifted into being a full-time freelance educator.

So, here I am.

The next logical step was to find a bit of space on the internet and build a website to put all my training materials and thoughts, and to answer all the questions that I regularly get asked from delegates on the courses I teach. That might be why you happen to be here now!

Although the majority of my work is delivered through awesome training companies such as Health Academy, M&K, and Dovetail, I do take on special requests as well if I can slot them in, so use my 'contact' page if this is what you are after. Some examples of interesting bespoke talks, training, and presentations I have enjoyed delivering are:

• Intradermal injection technique training on the high consequence infectious disease wards for the Liverpool School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (when Mpox made it's grand entrance threatening to square up to COVID-19 and the vaccinations were administered ID which is not a common technique used generally)

• Occupational health 'travel-slash-imms updates' for the nurses looking after police (who might have to work in disaster zones abroad)

• Conference talk for Superdrug on the 'top ten threats to global health' at their annual event.

• Conference talk for the BGTHA on 'avoiding mistakes in the travel clinic'

• Various webinars and lunchtime learning sessions on specific topics such as legal issues and rabies and B12 injections (recordings for some are linked here on the site)

• A short presentation on a diploma module for the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the RCPSG on scheduling vaccines

• VSO pre-departure health briefings for volunteers (preparing youngsters how to use squat toilets and wipe their bottoms with no loo roll was an experience)

• I'm currently appointed as module 1 lead (for May 2025 intake) on the post grad diploma in travel medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow

I love getting a new and challenging request for something that the standard mainstream courses don't quite fit the bill for. However, I'm usually quite booked up for the following few months ahead so plan early if you want to book me! If I can't do it, I will always refer you to someone I trust to deliver. There's plenty of us around.

Or just go straight to them yourself. You can find details of my FAVOURITE EVER health professionals on the shout out page. I've met so many AWESOME people along the way and I'm super happy to give them a nod here! Let me know if YOU want a spot there too!!