Mindful Sole

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“How can you do feet????!!!!”

Almost everyone asks me this question every time I tell them what I do for a living or when they book in for their first foot appointment! Here is my story as to why I chose Feet.....

My first interest in feet began some 20 odd years ago when I was 19 years old when I had an ingrown toenail. I was covered under my dad’s insurance policy at Bupa so went in and had the infected side nail cut which left a neat scar and meant the rest of the nail was saved. Then about 6 weeks later the other side became ingrown! I was no longer covered on my dad’s insurance so I went to the doctors surgery to have the rest of the nail removed. They injected the nerves at each side of the toe and when it was numb they put an elastic band round my toe, got pliers and pulled the nail off in one go! I was so fascinated that, much to my mum’s embarrassment, I asked to see the nail and they had to retrieve it from the clinical waste - it still had glittery nail varnish on it!

Meanwhile, I was working full time in the Bank of Scotland. I looked into a podiatry course at Uni but 3 years at Uni seemed a lifetime, plus I was use to having a wage, I was saving for my first flat and if I resigned from the Bank I would have to pay back the money (around £2k) because I was half way through the Bank exams. Life plodded on, I bought my flat, got a degree in Financial Services, got married in 2002 and had two boys. Then a series of life changing events took place - my dad passed away suddenly in 2008, the financial crisis happened a few months later and I split up with my husband in 2009. At work there were constant restructures which meant I was constantly reapplying for my job. It was very stressful and although I was desperate to increase my working days they couldn’t be honoured due to a recruitment freeze. After a couple of years of going through restructures I decided something needed to change. I needed something that would fit in with the boys and would enable me to work and earn more. I remembered about Feet! I looked on-line again at Uni but there was no way I could do three years at Uni and NHS placements with the boys being 5 and 3 years old. After more research I discovered a Foot Health Practitioner course. The theory part of the course was completed at home and a five day practical was then held at the college in Cornwall. The main differences between this and podiatry is you cannot advise on the bio-mechnics of the feet, can’t prescribe medicine, operate or work in the NHS. I enrolled on the course and starting studying. I was still working 2 days in the Bank when I applied for a part-time job working for the Institute of Bankers, where I completed my Bank exams, and became a Tutor and an Exam Verifier for them for three subjects. This would all be based at home with the occasional visit to the office in Edinburgh.

When the next re-structure came along I ticked the box to be considered for Voluntary Redundancy. 16 years ‘service meant 16 months’ worth of pay if I got it which would help while finished the foot course and set up my new business. Plus my now husband Michael had moved in with us (into a new home still in West Linton) so had the security over another wage coming in to the house. I ended up getting I got a job in the restructure - GUTTED! I was placed in a job share again with the same colleague as previous restructures and although we worked very well together she also had ticked the box to leave as she wanted to be an occupational therapist. I persuaded her that we should both write to HR as a FTE of 1 to apply for ‘bumping’ which means that if someone was at risk of redundancy but wanted to stay and their skill set matched ours then we could effectively swap! HR found a match – a guy who had three kids and did not want redundancy so got our job and it all worked out perfectly. I left the Bank in December 2011 and at the end of February 2012 I went to Cornwall to complete the practical to qualify as a Foot Health Practitioner. This was an intense course. We were put up in a lovely student house near the college. The night before the final practical we were all a bit tired and stressed. On of the students on the course was a reflexologist offered to give us all reflexology. While another student was having her treatment the reflexologist said to her, ‘oh you don’t have a gall bladder’ and she was like. ‘no I had to have it removed!’. I was like NO WAY! I knew I had to learn Reflexology and signed up to the course with the same college straight away.

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