Where I see myself in dietetics: My passions, goals and next steps

Photo by Kristine Tumanyan on Unsplash

Havanah Virtue-James, fourth-year dietetic student

I’ve always wished to have a career where I can make a real difference in people’s health. Reflection and experience have helped me to clarify how I want to apply my dietetic expertise to support others.

This blog shares my specialist areas of interest as well as short- and long-term career goals, showing how each step shapes the type of dietitian I aspire to be. 

Dietetic specialist areas of interest

Mental health

Experiencing anxiety and noticing how certain foods I eat help to improve my mood, sparked my interest to help others boost their energy, cognitive health, and overall well-being through nutrition recipes and online content. 

Gastroenterology

I enjoy exploring gut health, particularly my own IBS (which I personally refer to as ‘leaky gut’ to describe the way my symptoms feel). While this motivated me to explore gastroenterology, I am passionate about supporting individuals with gut-related skin conditions like psoriasis and acne.

Freelance and digital marketing

I plan to freelance later in my career after gaining relevant experience and skills in the community, to further enhance my competence. I enjoy creative writing, which led me to this role and I hope to continue blogging and more. Current ideas:

• Creative writing, for example, blogs, books, social media content, and email marketing
• Group cooking workshops on nutrition health topics 
• In-person and online consultations

My valuable work experience

I have taken on roles to gain awareness, confidence and prepare for the future; each contributed to my growth. These roles are:

• Student Careers Blogger at UoN (current role)
• Bank Support Worker with Community Integrated Care (current role)
• Dietetic Assistant
• Dietetic Intern (with Nottingham City Care)
• Catering Assistant 
• Healthcare Assistant

The Choosing your career services offered by the Careers and Employability team are a fantastic starting point for students to gain experiences that could align with their goals.

To set realistic career goals for myself, I began by getting clear on what I am most passionate about (helping people improve their health, nutrition, and relationship with food holistically). After that, I started exploring how I could turn that passion into a long-term career path. This led me to create the following goals:

Short-term career goals

• Completing my dietetic degree (passing final assessments, practice placement) and registration with The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Supporting individuals in a community-based setting, short-term as a graduate dietitian
• Building on creativity skills in writing and content creation via roles such as blog writer and social content representative
• Building on confidence in consultation, presentation, and marketing

Long-term career goals (as a dietitian)

• Work in social media, offering evidence-based dietetic insight
• Support holistic nutrition and intuitive eating
• Support people to build on their nutritional knowledge awareness, and cooking skills
• Focus on the nutrition connection to skin and mental health
• Write and publish a successful book on nutrition and healthier lifestyle choices
• Run my own business as a freelance dietitian

In summary, my career journey is guided by my passions for holistic nutrition, gut and skin health, mental well-being and creating engaging content.

Each experience and goal brings me one step closer to the kind of dietitian I hope to be known as – one who supports others in building healthier relationships with food and reminds them they are not alone in their journey. 

If you want to put a plan together for your future, book an appointment with a careers adviser. Whether you are unclear what you want to do, have some ideas or have a made a decision, our team can help you.