Jodie Gunn
Gender Based Violence Nurse
NHS Tayside
Formerly – Community Nurse Team Leader in the Health Visiting Service
“Although I was intrigued by these early experiences I didn’t know if I had the qualities to be a nurse – I thought long and hard about what the right personality traits were and decided to apply.”
“My first job after training was within a busy rehabilitation/care of the elderly ward. Having been heavily involved with discharge planning I found myself becoming really interested in Community Nursing. The more I asked patients about how things were at home and what resources people had available, the more curious I became about working in the community and so I went on to become a community nurse within a district nursing team then further progressed to complete my health visitor training.”
“My skills have become better because of my own mindfulness practice. I have learned to be much more aware. I would use the online Kit Bag https://www.internationalfuturesforum.com/ when doing supervision sessions on MS Teams and it helped colleagues open up. Just finding a way to check in with people, whether patients or staff, is so valuable.”
“We’ve never had a gender-based violence role in my health board which is a really exciting prospect to lead this agenda raising awareness to drive forward NHS Tayside’s priority of tacking domestic abuse.”
“I am on a steep learning curve in my new post, developing my skills around negotiation, leadership, education, research, and effective reporting. If I hadn’t been on the QN programme I don’t think I would have had the courage to do it.”
“I’ve been on a journey already and it will continue to be a huge transition as I get to grips with my new role, but I feel lucky to be equipped and prepared.”
“My coaching concentrated on my core values, I realised quite quickly that I had never questioned why some things irritate me and others bring me joy. Once you understand yourself in that way it empowers you to have courageous conversations. Instead of reacting impulsively because of your own sense of fairness you learn to respect all values at the same level.”
“The programme has been an important journey for me, giving me the tools and confidence to lead, grow and develop. It has allowed me to pause and reassess myself reflecting that cultural change must come from within.”