Alumni Profile: Jessica Mead

Jessica Mead recently graduated from the Master of Chiropractic course at the AECC School of Chiropractic at Health Sciences University. She studied on the Bournemouth campus. After completing her course, Jessica flew to Yei, South Sudan, to help The Brickworks charity provide education to healthcare students and staff about back pain. She tells us more about her experience below.

The Brickworks Charity

“Before I went to university, I went to Uganda with a couple from my church, Poppy and John, who run a small non-profit charity called The Brickworks.

“They lived in South Sudan for five years and they set the charity up to raise money to support projects there as well as to help South Sudanese refugees living in Uganda.

“They go out every year to see their friends, check to see how things are going and to get an idea of what help is needed. Poppy and John have been waiting for me to graduate as they like to offer support in education for people in South Sudan.

“When I completed my course, they asked for me to go over and teach on lower back pain, anatomy, preventative measures, treatments and to offer advice. As Poppy and John had lived there, I knew that I was actually going to be doing good for the people who live there.

“I self-funded my trip to Yei in South Sudan and was there for seven days. I did a number of teaching sessions whilst I was there.

“The first was at the Martha Clinic which was to nurses, midwives, lab technicians and clinical officers.

“The Martha Clinic offers triaging consultations for medications. It has labour and antenatal units, offers vaccinations and HIV treatment, a children’s ward and has an eye clinic.

“Then I taught two lessons at the Health Sciences Institute which is a health training college in Yei. The first lesson was to nursing students and clinical officer students and the second lesson was with midwifery, pharmacy and lab tech students.”

Experience of Teaching in South Sudan

“It was nice to step back and realise what I have learnt over the years of being at university. It was good to reiterate that I know what I am doing.

“It was also nice teaching people who want to learn anything and were asking lots of questions. They are so excited to learn and build their knowledge.

“I think seeing their enthusiasm sparked the same interest and excitement in me to learn again.

“I loved teaching, and I definitely want to do more in the future.”

What The Students Learnt From Jessica

“I think one of the main things they took away from my lessons was the preventative stuff. A lot of the students came up to me after the lesson and said they were going to teach their family and friends to do the exercises and posture information I gave them to prevent and treat back pain. Some of them had been suffering from back pain for years.

“The students were asking about different areas of pain after the lesson and I enjoyed suggesting things for them to go away and research.

“I think it opened up a new avenue of healthcare to a lot of them as musculoskeletal health is not something that they are currently taught.”

Favourite Memories

“One of my favourite memories was during the first lesson I gave at the Health Sciences Institute, with the nursing students and the clinical officers.

“Because I had already done the first session at the Martha Clinic, I felt confident and comfortable with teaching the lesson.

“The best bit about the lesson was the students then asking me questions at the end. They were really interested, and they were asking questions based on what I taught.

“A really fun memory was when I did a condensed lesson with the midwives. To fill up time and have some fun, I got them all on the floor to do the exercises with me.

“The laughter I had with them teaching the exercises was amazing. It was a dusty floor, and we all got dirty, but we were all laughing together. People started critiquing each other’s posture and the joy with it was really fun.

“It was also a privilege to help a man called Charles who had had back pain for a long time, so I did a one-on-one session with him. I assessed him, did a bit of trigger point work and went through the exercises with him. I was really honoured to help him.”

Support from HSU for the Lessons

“I received support from Neil Osborne as I prepped the lesson slides with him. He provided me with a PowerPoint which I modified to make my own.

“He also spent time with me going through what he would advise I teach about posture and some exercises.

“Daniel Heritage in the clinic provided leaflets which I took over with me to hand out at the clinics there and I saw them hand these out to patients who were coming in.”

Jessica Mead presenting to students

Ambitions for the future

“I wanted to be a teacher before my trip to South Sudan but this has reiterated to me that this is what I want to do in the future.

“The Brickworks charity wants me to go back next year and do sessions on pain. I would love to! It does however now depend on work and timings, but I definitely would want to go again.

“I like the idea of going and giving back and teaching the next generation what I have learnt from university.

“In the meantime, I want to go into private practice and really build up my experience and skills. I have an amazing mentor in my current job who I feel will make me amazing.”

You can find out more about the Master of Chiropractic course here.