I have been working at Middlesex University since 2003. During the years since I started lecturing I have been responsible for teaching modules related to communication, chronic illness in children and young people, professional values and development. Immediately before starting my role as a lecturer I had spent 5 years working in a general adolescent unit at the Middlesex Hospital. However, I had also previously worked with adolescents in a CAMHS unit (Simmons house) for 17 years both as a full time member of staff and as a part time member of staff whilst I studied for my undergraduate degree in Anthropology at UCL. It was following the period at UCL that I applied for the position on the Adolescent Unit, a position that I greatly enjoyed and which confirmed my interest in working with young people. During the five years that I worked at the Middlesex Hospital I studied for a Masters in Cultural heritage Studies, again at UCL. Both degrees have helped me appreciate the way in which culture influences the way in which we work as nurses and the way in which we relate to each other individually and within society, particularly in regards to same sex attraction.
These experiences have led to my interest in the part that children and young people's nurses can play in providing support and guidance for adolescents who are same sex attracted and also my enthusiasm for helping develop the ways in which children and young peoples' nurses work with children and young people with mental health problems in order that they can provide high quality, compassionate care when nursing this group of young people in general paediatric settings.
Other aspects of my role have included being a programme leader for 8 years, a Link Lecturer for the Royal Free Foundation Trust (paediatric areas), Rhodes Farm Eating Disorders Unit, Stanmore Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (paediatric areas), Richard Desmond Eye Hospital, Kids Company, Richard House Children's Hospice and the Bridge Street Special Schools.
RMN, awarded in 1982 from the Southend School of Nursing.
RGN, awarded in 1985 from the Barking, Havering and Brentwood School of Nursing.
RSCN, awarded in 1988 from Queen Mary's Hospital for Sick Children's School of Nursing
ENB 603 Child Adolescent and Family Psychiatry awarded 1991
BSc (Hons) Anthropology from UCL, awarded in 1998
MA Cultural Heritage Studies from UCL awarded in 2001
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, awarded in 2005
Lecturer Practitioner, awarded 2006
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, awarded 2007
CAMHS
Adolescent health care.
Communication
CAMHS and general children and young people's nursing.
Same sex attraction and nurses attitudes towards working with young people who are questioning their sexuality.
Richardson, Brian P. and Ondracek, Anton E and Anderson, Dee (2017) Do student nurses feel a lack of comfort in providing support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Questioning adolescents: what factors influence their comfort level? Journal of Advanced Nursing , 73 (5). pp. 1196-1207. ISSN 0309-2402
