Debbie to put aromatherapy skills to the ultimate test

LISBURN woman Debbie Pielou is in the final stages of her preparations for the UK WorldSkills Aromatherapy finals which will take place at the end of June in Cambridge College.

Debbie is a part-time student at South Eastern Regional College (SERC) where she studies Holistic Therapies. She qualified for the UK finals by competing in a regional heat held in Newry where she beat off stiff competition from fellow SERC students Carolyn Barr and Pamela Stewart as SERC recorded a clean sweep in the medal stakes.

Worldskills UK are run regionally and nationally each year in the UK and aim to help lift the standards of training and performance promoting world class skills and international competitiveness. The eventual winner of the Worldskills UK Final will go forward to represent the UK at the WorldSkills Finals which are held every three years bringing together the best emerging talent in the world in specific vocational disciplines.

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By qualifying for the national final Debbie has been recognised as being amongst the top ten aromatherapy students in the UK. Having won the Northern Ireland Regional hear Debbie was awarded a score for her performance, this was then compared against the other regional finalists throughout the England, Scotland and Wales and then the top ten were selected to go forward to compete in the UK finals.

On qualifying for the competition Debbie commented: “I’m thrilled to make it to the UK finals. The regional final was a really good experience. It was nerve racking to begin with but as the competition wore on and I settled down I had lots of fun and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m really proud to be selected to compete n the national finals.”

In the final Debbie will be required to cover the main features of a professional holistic therapist including asking the client about health and lifestyle problems and detailed medical history, following relevant health and safety procedures, using the information to select the oils she feels is appropriate to treat the client at that time, and suggesting alternative application techniques for home care use. She will then be graded on her overall performance.

Linda Duffy, Head of School for Hair, Beauty and Skillsfor Life at SERC said: “I would like to congratulate Debbie on making it to this stage of the competition and wish her every success in the final. Along with her tutor Colleen Cairns she has worked very hard throughout the year to develop her skills and talents and the competition provides an excellent platform for her to showcase her abilities.”

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