Our amazing alumni

Stephanie Calver

Product Development Manager, Nomad Food

BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Human Health, Class of 2013 and MSc Regenerative Medicine, Class of 2014. Steph is the Product Development Manager for a large frozen foods company, Nomad Foods, with a base in Lowestoft. Steph contacted the Alumni Relations team to enquire if we could help with advertising graduate roles to our students and alumni community. We are always happy to advertise jobs to our graduates and put them on our jobs board and on meeting with Steph we realised we could do so much more!

Steph is interested in supporting our current students in the School of Engineering, Arts, Sciences and Technology (EAST) so we have introduced her to the course team to make that happen. Steph was also interested to hear all about our Careers, Employability and Enterprise team and all of the ways the University could work with her organisation. From research opportunities, knowledge exchange and career possibilities, this is just the start of what we hope to be a long relationship with both Steph and Nomad Foods.

“Not wanting to stop my educational journey at the University after graduating from BSc (Hons) Nutrition and Human Health, I decided to study MSc Regenerative Medicine. I wanted something which would set me apart from other potential candidates when it came to interviews and had already enjoyed my years of undergraduate study at the Uuniversity, and was impressed with the laboratory facilities and support available.

The hard work paid off and I was able to secure my first job interview soon after graduating where I was chosen for the role of new product development technologist for a local food company, Stoke’s Sauces. Here my main role was to design food products from concept to factory and scale up ready for manufacture, before being sold in shops all over the country, and even used in restaurant chains such as Miller and Carter, as well as on cruise ships and passenger planes. I still pinch myself when I see a product I developed on the shelves in the supermarkets! I’m now lucky to have progressed into a fantastic job working for Europe’s largest frozen food producer, Nomad Foods, as Product Development Manager for the Futures Research and Development team, working with brands such as Birdseye, Iglu and Findus. As part of this team I am responsible for driving innovation and researching new ingredients and process technologies for our portfolio of food products sold all over Europe. You may have eaten a few made famous by a certain Captain! I find it so exciting that I can play a part in designing the future of the food we eat whilst working alongside a great team here in Suffolk. No two days are the same and I am proud to say I enjoy going to work!

The department and scientific research skills I learnt during both courses have since proved invaluable for my job, as well as the confidence boost I gained from being a student ambassador at the University. Fast forward to now and I have recently filed two UK patent applications and am now managing an undergraduate student during his placement year with our team.” 13

Counselling Alumni

3 different routes to success

We’ve been catching up with some of our Counselling alumni and wanted to share three very different stories of what our graduates have gone on to do with their degrees. For information on our Counselling courses, including the MSc Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Counselling please visit, uos.ac.uk/counselling

Jo Burdett

Counsellor for Eating Matters

PhD Student and BA (Hons) Councelling, Class of 2016.

Jo Burdett

I am currently in the final year of full-time study as a PhD student at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York. Research field — coercive control.

I also work part-time for Eating Matters, Norwich — counselling with clients online via video call.

I chose to study at the University of Suffolk (then UCS) because they offered an integrative counselling degree course. Living in North Norfolk at that time, there were courses I could attend much closer to home but the diversity of the UCS course content really appealed to me. In hindsight, having worked as a counsellor for the past six years, this course was absolutely the right choice. Studying a range of therapeutic models and theoretical conceptualisations, which can be tailored to client’s individual needs, works well for me. At the same time, you can develop one predominant therapeutic approach while accruing a broad understanding of other intersecting therapeutic models. This facilitates a deep level knowledge to apply to the range of difficulties clients bring to therapy.

One of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking elements of the course was studying philosophy; I remember this generated some very lively debate within our peer group. You also embark on a journey of personal development, so there is a good combination of theoretical and personal learning. Though, my greatest memory is of two residential weekends away, intensive learning, especially around personal development, so the days were demanding and the evenings spent letting off a lot of steam! This still makes me smile. A counselling placement was a mandatory part of the course and I felt very well prepared for this; the tutors were tremendously supportive. My placement led to paid work at the organisation where I am still working several years later. I have also trained and worked at other third sector organisations such as rape crisis services

for women and for men, which has allowed me to gain varied experiences and develop my career.

I specialised in working in the field of eating disorders but became interested in gender-based violence and this led me to study at Goldsmiths College, London, for an MA in Understanding Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse. This also was a positive learning experience and so I decided to study for a PhD focusing on coercive control and gender-based violence. I felt there was still much to learn to advance my career and important research to undertake.

I began university as a mature student but when I look back I can see I definitely caught the learning bug at UCS, my time there was such a great experience. I loved my degree course at UCS. I was 53 when I started there and didn’t ever feel out of place as a mature student. I brought up my 4 children, mainly as a single parent, so had to wait until they had all been to university before my turn. Starting academia late in life, and having such a positive experience, gave me the courage to continue.

Out of the three universities I’ve attended the University of Suffolk is definitely my favourite.

Yasmin Fryer

Counsellor and Psychotherapist, NHS Wellbeing Service

BA (Hons) Person-Centred Counselling, Class of 2015.

Yasmin Fryer

My name is Yasmin Fryer and I graduated from the University of Suffolk (then UCS), in 2015 having completed 3 years studying Person-Centred Counselling under the brilliant tutelage of Mr Peter Baumbach.

I attended my graduation ceremony and received a BA (Hons). I felt such a sense of pride as counselling training is not only an academic course, but it also requires hard work and commitment to personal development too.

I chose the course at East Coast College at University of Suffolk (then UCS at Great Yarmouth) as I felt it would be a better fit for me and having an initial interview, I felt comfortable straight away. Many of the early course work projects helped me focus on how best to deliver my work in a way that had academic clarity. The course also helped me understand how best to structure my time and effort without feeling stressed. Completing my second year gave me the push I needed (as well as lots of encouragement) to go for the final degree year. 15

I was able to find placements at Mind in Norwich and at The Sue Lambert Trust. Both charities gave me a real flavour of what it would be like to work as a Counsellor. In my final degree year, I was eligible for a Student Grant. I was appreciative of the help and support I gained from Student Support.

Very soon after graduating I learnt that Mind, the mental health charity was employing counsellors. I didn’t lose any time and applied straight away. I felt so passionate about my studies and knew I had experience of working in other sectors which I could bring to the interview. I was successful and started my role as Counsellor within the NHS Wellbeing Service based in Great. Yarmouth, not far from where I had studied. Six years later and I am still employed within the NHS Wellbeing Service as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist, seeing clients from all walks of life; helping them to understand and deal with difficulties they are experiencing. I love what I do and have even progressed further in my studies. Without the dedication and belief of the teaching staff at the University, I wouldn’t have thought it possible.

Apart from the teaching staff, my favourite memory must be ‘Bob’ the Biology laboratory skeleton that we named and took selfies with.

Kirstin Turner

Counsellor, Private Practice

BA (Hons) Counselling, Class of 2018

Kirstin Turner

Part of why I chose the University of Suffolk was because of the location. I had young children at primary school in Suffolk, so for me the choice of where to go was limited. It was so fortunate that the University offered the course I wanted and the 10 week FdA course I did there first was a great insight into what it would be like to study at the University and get a feel for the tutors.

The course gave a broad teaching of different modalities and theories, along with having to also work on ourselves in terms of having personal therapy and group practical work. Having to get a placement volunteering during my three years on the course was really useful as this was great preparation for when I would qualify to either work for an organisation or for myself. With the tutors’ support and the support from individuals where I volunteered it worked well in combination with university work.

Each module on the course was valuable learning; with a mixture of theory and practical each week. This felt like I was getting an all-round experience of what it would be like to work as a counsellor and a chance to see what theories resonated with me. For example, every Thursday afternoon

we would work in groups to counsel each other; starting with made up stories and eventually building up to our real-life experiences. Teaching us about maintaining confidentiality, how we would feel as counsellors hearing client’s stories, and also to experience the vulnerability clients might feel. On Tuesday mornings we would attend ‘process group; where as a small group and a tutor we would discuss how we were doing and also let each other know what we might be finding challenging about certain relationships or dynamics in the group. It was very useful in helping us gain more self awareness, something necessary in order to be a competent counsellor! It was also compulsory to attend our own personal therapy and to keep a journal. So, not only was the course teaching us about theories and modalities, it was also teaching us about ourselves and how we are in the world. All of these have been incredibly useful in my personal growth and also in gaining confidence and belief in myself as a counsellor.

It was useful when we had people come in and teach us about how to best write, save and hand in essays/work and how to make presentations etc. Having been out of education for 18 years, I certainly needed some educating on how things have to be done now. I am aware that doing a degree in my late 30’s will have been a different experience than if I had done it at 18/19. I didn’t feel in particular need for any additional support, but if I ever did, I knew I could go and ask. What I do remember sensing from tutors was to go for it and not fear going into private practice, this was incredibly useful to encourage me to just jump in and see what happens!

I decided to put what I could away each year from my student finance in the hope that it would help me convert my garage into an office and counselling room, which I did in 2018. With the support of friends that I made on the course, also embarking on private practice, I began working for myself in May 2018, and my practice has grown slowly over the last few years. What works for me is that I can choose when I am able to work as it is also important for me to be available for my children. In 2020 with the virus issues, I had to either stop work or try online and phone counselling. Being open to trying this way of working has turned out to be very useful for myself and my clients. It has now added an extra way of maintaining flexibility of attending sessions. So we can turn to it if a client feels a zoom session would work better one week for example.

I think having been a part of a group of likeminded people, making new friends and learning from the tutors are all good memories for me. It felt good to be learning again and to be able to see an achievable career actually happen, which it has!

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