Nikki

I like the clinical environment, inviting patients in and easing them because a lot of people fear the dentist, but satisfied when happy with the result. I’ve worked with several cosmetic dentists in Brighton and Hove and Eastbourne, and I got to the point where I knew I wanted to improve, I didn’t want to be a manager – I wanted to stay clinical, so I went back to college.

I applied to go to university but didn’t get in the first time, I’ve always struggled academically but got in on my second go, however, I fell pregnant with my first child, so I started my degree when my son was six months old, it was a struggle, but I loved every minute of it. I qualified as an adult nurse and worked on the emergency floor at Brighton Hospital, it was interesting and I learnt a lot in a very short space of time, it was a very fast paced couple of years, I also fell pregnant at that time with my second child.

I knew about the cosmetics side of things from working with the cosmetic dentists and I knew I wanted to get into anti-wrinkle and skin treatments, so while I was at Brighton hospital, I did a course at Harley Street and had a side hustle seeing clients for fillers and similar treatments whilst working at the hospital. My clientele just grew – I would have one hand with my box of fillers and the other holding my baby, I had to choose what pathway I wanted to go down, nursing is very stressful, and I knew I wanted to be a clinical nurse prescriber so doing this was perfect for me – it wasn’t really work, I was just enjoying what I was doing”