The Relaunch Event of the South Wales British Dietetic Association Branch

This week it was the eagerly anticipated relaunch of the South Wales branch of the British Dietetic Association, at an event that was held in Cardiff Metropolitan University. The event was a great opportunity for those interested in dietetics, students such as myself and professional dietitians to get together for an informative but informal evening.

The night got off to a great start with a lovely networking buffet, which gave people a chance to get to know each other and to familiarise themselves with the latest BDA resources. It was also a lovely surprise for me to be able to see the copy of Dietetics Today that I wrote during the Summer on my journey through sport into dietetics, in print. This was thanks to SENr (the Sport Exercise and Nutrition register) getting in touch and kindly enabling me to share my story about how dietetics has been a supporting service since my diagnosis with type 1 diabetes.

We then headed to the lecture theatre to enjoy a great array of presentations and talks, that first began with Caroline Bovey, the new chair of the branch who warmly welcomed us to the meeting, and told us about the many opportunities available within the organisation. Other talks included topics about research in the field of dietetics, which is something that I hope to be involved in, in the future. There was also a really engaging lecture about helping the public understand the role of the dietitian and how this group of science nutrition professionals can help with nutritional support.

I really enjoyed the evening and was so touched by the kindness of the qualified dietitians and the way that they generously gave their time to the students such as myself at the end, to help us understand the more specialised roles of the profession. Such as sport or paediatric diabetes, both of which I found fascinating. Hopefully there will be another South Wales BDA meeting in the new year, which I look forward to attending.