EMBRACE CHANGE OF DIRECTION
QUESTION and answer session with Lyn McBain, educator, Absolute Care & Health.
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE?
I have spent 50 years as a nurse.
My specialty is brain injuries.
Now I teach a lot of that to the carers and nurses.
I was appointed (into my educator role) at the end of last year but because the world has been crazy, I have been doing some clinical work as well while we didn’t have enough staff.
I am doing less clinical work now unless I am taking one of the nurses out.
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS?
I developed my career (training in a hospital) but decided after working with many university-trained nurses that I was going to be left behind so enrolled in a distance-education course and did my full Bachelor of Nursing.
I had been an enrolled nurse for 30 years.
After that, I was working in a brain injury unit and decided to do my masters.
I did my Certificate IV in Training and Assessing then did a short course in dementia, then a diploma in dementia and I think I am about to undertake a mental health course this year.
HOW DID YOU TRANSITION INTO YOUR ENCORE CAREER?
I was working for another company and one of the girls in the office had done a teaching course and suggested I do it.
It was a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
When I went to
Absolute they saw I had the certificate so asked if I could do first aid training so that has been a side part of my role.
I was doing more and more teaching so they created a full-time teaching position for me.
Because of my love of working with complex clients, I didn’t want to give that up and do straight teaching so they said I can do what I want with the role.
It just organically happened.
The opportunity arose – but then you have got to make it happen, too.