Name: Emily Wade
What dates were you at Prior Pursglove College?: 2017 – 2019
Subjects studied: Biology, Sociology, PE
Secondary school: St Patrick’s Catholic College
Memories of Prior: When I arrived at college I didn’t know anyone there, and within the first day I remember a group of students took me in and made sure that I wasn’t alone. Prior was always a place of friendship filled with kind people which I appreciated so much.
Current Profession: Chiropractic
About the journey: Emily was inspired to study Chiropractic after visiting a local chiropractic clinic in Stockton for chronic neck pain that she had suffered with for some time. She says that after a few sessions of treatment she felt the best that she had in the previous 5 years and so asked if she could do some work shadowing.
As well as this Emily started doing some research into Universities that offered Chiropractic courses and found at that time that there were only three offering this choice in the UK.
The one which stood out to her was at the University of South Wales, also known as Welsh Institute of Chiropractic (WIOC). The course, Master of Chiropractic, entailed learning about in-depth anatomy, neuroanatomy, pathophysiology and various different conditions which can affect the human body, as well as the more social and professional side to the career.
In the 4th year of her degree, Emily completed a placement year at the onsite student clinic where she was one of the primary clinicians responsible for treating patients, most of whom were members of the public.
Emily has now finished her Master of Chiropractic Degree, graduating with a First Class Honours.
She describes her overall experience at university as ‘great and eye-opening into the world of private healthcare and how big an impact we can have on our local communities’.
Her plans for the future involve working full-time at the same clinic where she started out shadowing and says they are ‘an amazing team’ (Stockton Chiropractic Clinic).
Emily is also going to be involved with the Chiropractic student placements at Teesside University and hopes to become a member of their teaching staff in the future. On top of this, Emily also wants to promote Chiropractic as a career to college students.
Her advice for any prospective student, regardless of career, would be to ‘do your research and make sure the course you’re thinking of is something you would enjoy studying. Without enjoyment it’s extremely difficult to motivate yourself to do the work and having the end goal of knowing you’re going into something you love makes the hard work so much more worthwhile’. She also adds ‘make sure you take the time to enjoy your time in education because it truly is an amazing experience where you get to meet people who will be in your life for a long time’.