Current position: Endorsed Midwife, Midwifery Academic, Clinical Educator and owner of The Nesting Hub
What led you to study Clinical Education at Flinders University? I chose to study at Flinders University as I know it to be a high-calibre and greatly-respected educational institution for Clinical Education as well as Nursing and Midwifery Education. I had also worked within the Nursing and Midwifery Clinical Skills Laboratories at Sturt Campus for a 16-month period, between 2014 and 2016, and with the supportive, inclusive, and encouraging nature of the staff there, it was an easy decision for me to apply for the Masters program at Flinders.
How did your time at Flinders University change you both professionally and personally? Throughout my time of studying as an external Masters student at Flinders University, I grew in knowledge and understanding in all aspects of Clinical Education. I worked collaboratively with those in my cohort via online Discussion Boards and Collaborate Sessions while also attending on-site Weekend Intensive Workshops with my Masters Coordinator Dr Koshila Kumar and her Clinical Education team. Throughout each aspect, I learnt vital knowledge and skills to carry me forward in my Clinical Education activity as a Midwifery Academic in Sydney, working across both University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Western Sydney University (WSU).
In addition to this, I believe I have deepened my knowledge and understanding of research and of the ethics process. Covid restrictions that manifested towards the end of my studies in 2020 required me to alter my final Masters Research Project significantly, and at short notice. This resulted in having to go around the ethics loop once again and a delay in completion. However, the end result of my research was greatly beneficial, and I feel very grateful for the support and advice that I received at that time.
Since completing my Master of Clinical Education at Flinders, I have progressed to teaching extensively in clinical skills-based education within both the Bachelor of Midwifery and Graduate Diploma in Midwifery Programs, both at UTS and WSU in Sydney. Coupling this with my 24-year background in midwifery, both in my homeland of Scotland and here in Australia, I felt the time was right to create a Private Midwifery Practice in 2021 and I have called it The Nesting Hub. It was initially conceptualised as an educational business for both parents to be and new parents, however The Nesting Hub has quite literally grown arms and legs since I achieved Endorsed Midwife Status with my Midwifery Governing Body AHPRA at the end of 2021. This endorsement status allows Medicare Rebates to be offered for the services that I provide, and I can also prescribe medications up to the level of S8 medications in NSW (within the scope of my Midwifery Practice), order bloods, ultrasounds, and other tests too. This allows me to be a fully autonomous midwifery practitioner, providing continuity of midwifery care across the continuum with home-birthing, trauma and bereavement counselling and infant massage all added to The Nesting Hub’s existing business offering. To provide continuity of midwifery care and support to childbearing women and their families in their home environment, and in supporting normal, physiological processes, just makes my heart sing. I am so passionate, driven and enthusiastic about all aspects of midwifery, in providing the safest and most effective evidence-based maternity care and about the clinical education opportunities provided, both for the families that I care for and for the next generation of midwives I teach too. I believe it’s the best of both worlds
Have you maintained connections with fellow students or academics since graduating? There are three students that I continue to communicate with, and I have conversed with my Masters Coordinator Dr Koshila Kumar from time to time too. I value the importance of networking, collaborating, supporting, assisting as well as encouraging others and I hope that one day our paths will cross again.
What are the three most important professional attributes that your Flinders degree equipped you with? There is a plethora of professional attributes that I am now equipped with, but the most important ones I believe are competence, knowledge and confidence.
How does your current career compare to the career/job aspirations you had as a child? From the age of 4, when I dressed up in a nurse’s uniform and donned my stethoscope, I knew I wanted to be part of a caring profession, but I didn’t know at that time which profession I would end up in. My ‘Calling to Midwifery’ arrived at the age of 18 and I have to say I have never looked back. Throughout my career, my passion for midwifery, for woman-centred care and for clinical midwifery education, have continued to grow through the experiences I have had and with those who have crossed my path. Now, in 2022 as an Endorsed Midwife, Sessional Academic, Clinical Educator and now business owner, I have brought each of these components together and I am excited about the future
What has been the greatest accomplishment of your career to date? I would say that achieving my Master of Clinical Education from Flinders and achieving my Endorsed Midwife Status with AHPRA (following successful completion of my Prescribing for Midwives Course with Griffith University), have been my greatest academic achievements so far.
However, the knowledge and skills I have gained on both sides of the globe, the fantastic colleagues and managers I have worked alongside over the years and the amazing families I have cared for throughout it all have shaped me into the person I am today. Without each of these I would not have the knowledge, competence and confidence to have stepped out on my own – as Midwife Gail and The Nesting Hub.
I also must mention the students that I have educated at each University and those whom I have worked alongside clinically in the hospital environment too. Students have always been integral to my work as a clinical educator and midwife and I value them immensely.
Who has inspired you the most in life – personally or professionally? My husband Gary and daughters Cerys and Anna have inspired me the most in life. Since migrating from Scotland to Australia in 2012, life has brought many ups and occasional downs. So, without my family’s continued love, support and encouragement, I am not sure that I would have achieved all that I have here.
Additionally, my family and friends around the world have been so fantastic with regular Zoom/FaceTime chats and messages. Although we are apart, I certainly do feel the love and I have to say, absence really does make the heart grow fonder – I cannot wait to be re-united with them once again (and hopefully that opportunity will come soon).
One big highlight over the last year, and in life, was graduating from Flinders with my Masters, alongside our Cerys with her Bachelor of Creative Arts Degree in Visual Effects and Entertainment Design. I am beyond proud of her and her new design business, colq.design, and cannot wait to see where her career pathway takes her. I am also immensely proud of Anna who is gearing up to sit her Year 12 HSC later this year with a veterinary pathway on the horizon. Life really is what you make of it and we are all looking forward to whatever the future holds
Find out more about The Nesting Hub
Find out more about studying postgraduate Clinical Education at Flinders