We have an amazing nursing team that holds everything together at Ashwood. They ensures the highest standards of medical care and have specialisms in surgery, anaesthetics, rehabilitation, kidney disease & dentistry. You may be surprised at what our nurses are qualified for, trained in and capable of!
Growing up, I loved biology and was obsessed with wild life books, Animal Planet, David Attenborough and animals. When I was six, Mum and Dad rescued Nipper, a Jack Russell who had been badly mistreated. She was the sorriest looking dog we had ever seen. She was thin, had hardly any fur and looked so much older than her real age. Despite all of this, she immediately became my best friend and I loved her to bits. With visits to the vet, lots of cuddles and TLC, she flourished into a happy healthy waggy tailed dog. Watching Nipper's transformation made me realise that I could be involved in working this kind of magic forever. As soon as I finished my A-levels, I joined the Ashwood team. I studied to become a veterinary nurse and I've been helping people with their own little Nippers ever since!
When I was young, I loved spending holidays on my friend’s farm, helping with the animals. Once, enthusiastically running to see her new puppy, I tripped and cut my head. I still have a mark but it’s a reminder of the excitement and how much I love animals too. So you could say that animals have left their mark on me in more ways than one! I think it must really come from my mum, as she is a mega animal fan and I’ve had pets ever since I can remember. Now, I just love making a difference to the lives of animals. I started out working on our reception, now I’m a veterinary nurse and I love it. I've recently trained as a cat advocate as part of our goal to make Ashwood an accredited Cat Friendly Clinic.
It was while watching episode after episode of Animal Planet that something clicked for me. We didn’t really have pets until I was 16, when we got a wonderful black lab puppy called Alfie. I’ve just recently rescued another lab puppy called Harvey and he’s crazy! (and super-happy). I just love to help animals in any way I can, and I love working at Ashwood with Patrick and the team. I love developing my skills as a Surgical Nurse and seeing the results of helping my patients live a better quality of life. I'm undertaking further advanced studies in nurse surgery and enjoying every minute of it. Since the end of my 3 years of academic nursing studies and qualifying as a registered veterinary nurse I really have never looked back.
When I was a little girl I watched the movie 'All Dogs Go to Heaven'. Ever since then I knew that German Shepherds were the breed for me. My boys and I have a lovely black Shepherd called Riot who definitely lives up to his name & keeps us on our toes. He loves to make friends with all humans and animals and is the happiest big boy. I am so lucky to have the privilege of getting to look after all our clients and their pets as I love getting to know them all. There is nothing I enjoy more than a cuddles with the puppies and kittens and a chat with our lovely clients. After lots of studying and hard work I qualified as a Registered Veterinary Receptionist in 2021 and look forward to one day being a Registered Veterinary Nurse.
I have always been a huge animal lover. I grew up with everything from cats and dogs
to guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters and toads, and I now have two cats and a dog
(and two kids!) of my own. But after studying archaeology, and later conservation,
at university I ended up working in an office environment for 15 years. I
finally took the risk and left to pursue my dream job, studying to become an
animal nursing assistant before coming to Ashwood to be a student nurse. I
can’t tell you how happy I am to be part of the team! Getting to work with the
loveliest bunch of professional, intelligent people is a dream come true!
As a child I always wanted to work with animals, be it as a zookeeper, vet, dog-walker, nurse... the list went on and the role of choice changed each week! After a detour into the acting world and having played a nurse on Emmerdale a few times (oh, the irony!); I decided to take the leap, follow my heart and change my career to Veterinary Nursing. After volunteering with the RSPCA in England, I moved to Northern Ireland in 2015 and began my nursing journey at Greenmount College on the Animal Nursing Assistant course. That diploma confirmed for me that Veterinary Nursing was the job I wanted and so I went on to the Veterinary Nursing diploma course in 2018 and haven't looked back since! I'm delighted to be fully qualified now and shall wear my RVN badge with pride! I joined the Ashwood family in July 2021 and I'm so thrilled and honoured to be part of such an incredible team of truly passionate and caring people.
Growing up, my mum fostered a multitude of different animals and I learnt a lot about how to care for them from a young age. Having attended Equine college at 16 years old I still had my heart set on working with small animals one day. I moved to Australia when I was 21, worked up and down the east coast, and qualified as an Australian Veterinary Nurse. After living there for 7 years I made the long journey home with my now husband Brendan, and my rescue Collie X Kelpie, Cinder. I love creating relationships with clients and showing compassion for any animal that comes through the front door. I am so grateful to work at Ashwood as it's such a friendly, fun & knowledgeable clinic, and most of all they are all as smitten with Cinder as I am!
